After The Heist
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: The Italian Job After the LA Heist, what happens to the gang? Charlie gets together with Stella, and settle down in Venice. Steve returns, wanting revenge against Charlie by using the closest things to his heart. Will it work?
1. Love Me Back To Life

It was perfect. Everything had gone to the final plan, and everyone was looking forward to getting what they wanted. Stella, on the other hand, had already got what she wanted. Not only did she have her revenge on Steve, she had also punched him so hard that Handsome Rob was convinced was better than Charlie's. Once the gold was split, they would each have enough to never have to steal again, which would be a big difference to Charlie. He had been stealing his whole life, and now he was offered a chance to stop it. At least a few little bits couldn't hurt still, to make sure he wasn't out of practice in case of another opportunity.

On the train, they all drank champagne together. Lyle wasn't on his laptop for once, and Rob wasn't picking petty arguments with him, for once. Left-ear planned on getting as drunk as possible, until, of course, Charlie reminded him that they still had to drive back.

"Why do I have to drive?" Left-ear had asked Charlie, dowing the rest of his fourth glass of the expensive wine. "You, Stella and Rob managed just fine before."

"Ah, but Stella's riding with me next time." Charlie pointed out with a cheeky smile. His arm had been arouns Stella's waist for at least an hour now, and she was inching closer and closer to him every time she moved.

Rob rolled his eyes. "Can't you two at least wait until the rest of us have gone?" He asked, disgusted with the minute public displays in affection.

"Unless you all want to clear off into another carriage now, no." Charlie stated. "Besides, remember what John said."

"What did he say?" Left-asked.

Rob and Lyle explained at the same time in a sing-song voice that was shockingly like Stella's when combined together. "Find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, Charlie, and hold on to her forever."

"And he's only been saying it, every day.." Rob continued.

"...for the past year." Lyle finished.

"Yes, well, I'm following John's orders." Charlie replied cockily, giving Stella a quick tug so she fell completely against him, and they both ended up laughing. "Starting now." Thanks to Charlie, she was now almost laying in his lap, held up only a little by his arm.

"Yeah, well," Left-ear carried on, "It still doesn't change the fact that there's five of us and three cars. Lyle can drive."

Charlie wasn't listening anymore, he was looking down at Stella in that typical way in movies where the hero is just about to kiss his girl. Only, considering they had just stolen $27 million worth of gold, he wasn't really a hero.

"Charlie?" Left-ear asked. "Yoo Hoo, Croker!"

"Don't even try, mate." Rob pointed out. "He can't hear a word your saying."

"You mean, we could say anything right now, and he wouldn't hear it?" Lyle said curiously.

"A bomb could go off, and he wouldn't realise it."

"So, we could say something like 'Charlie is a real loser' and he wouldn't even flinch."

To no one's suprise, he didn't move.

"I think you could do better than that." Rob said. "Something more along the lines of: 'Charlie-boy is so love-sick right now that if he doesn't stop it, I'm going to throw both of them off the train."

Charlie looked up. "Now that one I heard, and I would love to see you try."

"So would I for that matter." Stella added.

"Careful, Rob, she might through you off first." Lyle warned.

"Yeah right." He said sarcastically. "She might be able to handle a car, but she can't handle Charlie."

"Oh really?" She asked, trying to sit up, but Charlie wouldn't let her.

"Yeah." Rob said confidently. "He's been a thief his whole life. You've been a thief for about a week. What makes you think you can handle him like you handle your wheels?"

"Maybe I don't need a reason." She said, as confidently as Rob.

"How do you figure that?" Rob asked her.

"Because all I need to do, is this." She pulled Charlie down to her and kissed him, bringing about lots of complaints from the others, and after a little while, they both pulled away.

"You know what," Charlie began breathlessly, "If that's anything to go by I think I _want _to be handled."

Stella cocked her eyebrow daringly at Rob, who shook his head. "Women." He sighed.

This was going to mark the beginning of a long series of Rob and Stella's bets.


	2. More Than We Bargained For

**Thank you so much to those who reviewed the first chapter, seeing as there wasn't many Italian Job ones, I honestly didn't think I would get any reviews. In regards to those who asked about the object of Steve's revenge, after this chapter it will fast forward to show everyone in their new homes etc, and Stella and Charlie will have kids, amazingly, as does another character which will be who I thought most unlikely to have kids.**

**Sam**

**xx**

Stella won the first bet. Charlie had been officially handelled. She stayed in the position Charlie had pulled her into for ages. A very drunk Left-Ear offered her another glass of champagne. She was closely catching up with him on the amount she had drank now, but she was handling it better, or at least, hiding it better. She went to take the glass from him, but stopped as soon as she had stretched out her hand, recoiling and hissing in pain.

"Ouch!"

Handsome Rob almost laughed at the expression on Charlie's face when Stella cried out, but instead he frowned in slight worry.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked her. She held her right hand in her left, but Charlie took it in his own and looked over the skin. The skin around her knuckles was red and swollen, some parts beginning to bruise into purplish black. Charlie pressed down on the swollen area and felt her hand twitch beneath his touch, as if she were fighting her instinct to recoil from the pain. "Sorry." He muttered.

"Its probably the bruising from hitting Steve so hard," Rob pointed out.

"It's worth it." Stella said, through clenched teeth. "He deserved ten of them."

"Still," Charlie began. "You should probably put some ice on it, bring the bruising out quicker."

Lyle slid over the bucked of ice that was cooling the champagne. "Ice." He said simply.

Charlie put Stella's hand on the table, placing a few icecubes over her knuckles, then withdrew his hand slowly, making sure that icecubes weren't about to fall. At first, it was extremely cold, but soon it began to numb her hand.

"Leave those on there for a while." Charlie instructed. "That should do it, just fine."

Lyle shook his head tiredly. "What time is it?" He asked.

Rob checked his watch. "11pm."

Stella sighed, leaning back against Charlie again. "How much longer til we get, wherever we're going?"

"A few more hours at least." Charlie told them. "Then we've got to drive to the airport, where I've booked us a flight for us to Italy."

"Italy?" Lyle asked.

"Well, I figured as that's where this all started, it would be a good place to lay low for a while."

"I like Italy." Stella said lightly. "It's romantic."

Charlie did a hand gesture for emphasis. "And that," He added.

Stella yawned, as did Lyle. "We should take a while to sleep, making sure that one of us is awake so we don't miss the stop." Charlie pointed out. Stella took this as an invitation and moved so that her head was rested against Charlie's shoulder, but so that the ice was still balanced on her hand. She sighed gently, closing her eyes and falling asleep within seconds.

Rob and Lyle watched this with looks on their faces that suggested that Charlie was insane. "Lyle." Rob said, a bit threateningly. "Don't even _think _about doing that to me."

The rest of the men all laughed, and after about an hour Rob and Charlie were the only ones awake, seeing as Left-Ear had drunk himself unconsious, finishing a whole bottle of champagne to himself.

"You know," Charlie began teasingly, "For someone who spends such a lot of time with women, you really hate relationships, don't you?"

Rob still had a look on his face which half said 'that's disgusting' and half said 'you're insane', which was amusing Charlie a lot. "For someone who was single yesterday you're really gross aren't you?" He countered.

"It's not 'gross'" Charlie argued.

"It is for the rest of us."

"I don't care." Charlie said with a cheeky smile, his trademark smile. "It's brilliant."

"Well at least I don't have to listen to you moaning every day now." Rob said, rather relieved.

"Moaning?"

"'I wonder how Stella is,' 'We haven't seen Stella in a while,' 'I might call Stella, see how she's doing,' 'Stella would love this,'"

"Ok, ok, you made your point." Charlie surrendered, not noticing Stella's eyes opening. Rob noticed, and decided to have some fun with it.

"Truth is, you've been nuts about her since the day John introduced you." Rob said, folding his arms over his chest as he Charlie put his hand over the part of Stella's that wasn't balancing the ice. Although being secretly awake, Stella did not move. Charlie didn't answer. "Admit it, Charlie."

"That was like, seven years ago Rob." Charlie pointed out. "She was only twenty."

"And you were only twenty two." Rob countered. "Besides, who's counting? Two years means nothing nowadays. There's schoolkids going out with a bigger age gap than the one between you and her." Charlie shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but carefully as to not 'wake' Stella, who he still thought was sleeping.

"Ok, I admit it." He mumbled.

"Sorry, Charlie, I didn't quite hear that?" Rob asked teasingly, even though he had heard perfectly what Charlie had said.

"I said I admit it." Charlie repeated louder. "I admit that I've been nuts about Stella since I saw her seven years ago."

Handsome Rob smiled his devilish smile. "That's better. Let's see if the feeling's mutual. Stella?" Stella threw Rob a shocked look.

"Rob, she's asl-" Charlie looked down and saw Stella staring at Rob. "Nice, you two, real nice." He said, realising that he had been set up.

Stella laughed quietly. "I had nothing to do with it," She said innocently.

"Of course not, Stella." Rob agreed sarcastically. "How could you? I mean, you were asleep."

Stella raised her head from Charlie's shoulder, stretching her neck. "You're just jealous." She teased him.

"Yes," Rob said, sarcasm dripping off every word. "I am so jealous that you get to be all disgusting with Charlie. Which reminds me," He said, leaning forward on the table, resting on his forearms. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"Is the feeling mutual?"

"Of course it is." She said.

"Ah, but has it been mutual for seven years?"

"It was mutual seven years ago, but for the past year it hasn't been entirely mutual." She told him.

"Now that everything's out in the open," Rob said, somehow proud with himself, for embarrassing Charlie infront of Stella. "I am going for a piss."

"Thank you Rob," Stella said cheerfully. "My life feels really complete know I know that."


	3. The Boys Are Back In Town

**Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, they had helped me so much! **

**Angie: Who wouldn't love this movie! I think its actually the only movie I like that a fit guy doesn't remove their shirt! (Not that there's nothing wrong with mark Wahlburg of course, he's very yummy) **

**Hockey Gurl: I'm very very very shocked that this has inspired you to write one of your own, but I am very very very very very interested in reading it :D**

**Darkdestiney2000: Be careful what you wish for ;) I hope you don't mind me using your suggestion for twin boys, it actually sparked off a lot of playful ideas, so thank you very very much for that. I hope yous soccer tornament went well!**

**JaclynK: I can see what you mean about the watch, thank you for the constructive critisism and there will be a lot more of Lyle in this story :D**

**StaticShock28: I know that the first two chapters haven't really coincided with the summary, but that was because I didn't want to fast forward too quickly, and decided to show them celebrating a bit first (maybe Left-Ear celebrated a bit too much).**

**Thanks again :D I am glad that so many people like it (a very pleasant suprise), and updating it now that I know it is being read will be easier, and it's a brilliant way to take breaks between my exam revision. groan only two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks**

**Sam**

**xx**

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Hey, that's my wallet!"

"Stop!"

"Ah!"

"_Stella! Help!_"

Four male voices automatically called out for the same woman. Stella, standing in the kitchen of her's and Charlie's mansion, set down her knife on the table top, resisting the urge to take it with her and, ahem, dispose of these callers, but she decided against it. Instead she sighed and went towards the back of the house. It was a large mansion, but the price hadn't created too much of a dent in their share of the gold, which they had put together. It had a huge garden, which was complete with a terrace, and the size meant that there had been many a time when people had visited, only to disappear for hours once getting lost in the maze of the garden.

Once stepping onto the terrace, she laughed. She laughed so hard that she had to collapse onto a nearby chair to save herself falling onto the floor.

"It's not funny!" Charlie moaned.

But for her, it was funny, it was very funny. Who wouldn't laugh to see four fully grown men, who had coincidently stole millions of dollars worth of gold, at the mercy of children. They were in a bundle on the floor, struggling against six children, who had them easily pinned to the floor, and were torturing them with tickles. Charlie was being held captive by their three-year-old daughter, Holly, who was sitting on his chest. Left-ear had his arms pinned down by his seven-year-old son, Damon. Lyle was lying on his front with six-year-old Michael covering him. Handsome Rob, who was probably worse off than the rest of them, had his twins, six-year-old terrors, with Nathan sitting on his head, and Nick on his chest, going through his pockets. What had made Stella laugh most, though, was the fact that her's and Charlie's eight-year-old son, Alex, was standing behind the men, facing towards the kids (with the exception of Nathan), and was doing what Rob called 'playing Charlie'.

With his brown hair, Alex was a splitting image of Charlie, getting more so like him everyday, but his blue eyes were undoubtably Stella's. His eyes got him out of a lot of trouble, but it was Holly who had mastered fluttering her eyelids at Charlie to get on his good side. It didn't work with Stella though, after all, she had _invented _that trick on Charlie, and had taught it to Holly. At the moment, Alex was pacing up and down, observing the other children's technique.

"Good, guys, you all got gold?" He asked, deepening his voice so he sounded exactly like a minature Charlie. All of the children held up wallets, save for Holly, who sat still. "Excellent." Alex looked at his sister, speaking normally and not in his deepened tone, "Holly, did you get Dad's keys?" Holly smiled cheekily (oh, how that smile reminded Stella of Charlie's cheeky grin), and she held up Charlie's car keys. "Well done, Holly. Oh, hi Mom."

All the kids stopped, and turned their heads to Stella. Holly was still wearing her cheeky smile and said proudly, "Look, Mommy, I'm stealing!" She said happily, holding up Charlie's car keys. "And I done it all on my own!"

Of course, teaching their kids to steal hadn't been something that Stella and Charlie had meant to do. It just seemed to come naturally to them.

"Good girl." Stella congratulated, smiling, trying not to laugh again. "Alex, what have I said about jumping your father and uncles?" She asked her son with a raised eyebrow. This particular game was getting more and more frequent now.

Alex smiled. "But Momma, I didn't jump them, they did." He pointed out, as though he thought it was blindingly obvious.

"Stella?" Rob asked, muffled by Nathan still.

"Yes, Rob?" She answered sweetly.

"Can you handle these kids now? I'd really like to stand up some time soon."

"Oh, no." She said in disbelief. "The only one I'm handling out the five captives this time is this one." And she scooped Holly up from Charlie's lap, gathering her giggling daughter up. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's get this barbecue started."

Half an hour later, the boys were playing on the grounds, presumably in the trees as Stella could hear them, but she couldn't see them, and Holly was sleeping in her lap, worn out from her stealing. Charlie, Rob, Left-ear and Lyle all came out of the house adopting poses that were similar to Superman's, jutting out their chests and putting their hands on their hips. As Alex had done, they all took on deeper voices.

"Men here." Rob stated.

"Make fire." Charlie continued.

"Cook food." Left-ear carried on.

"Put fire out by peeing. Not get invited back." Lyle finished, and Stella laughed again.

It was like this every month when they got together for a barbecue. The men would all get emotional with the fire, taking it to heart if every coal did not burn. She wondered why they were so hesitant to cook inside the house, but so enthusiastic to cook when it was outside involving fire and sharp objects. Stella lay back on the recliner, being sure not to wake Holly up, and relaxed. After a while, the smell of cooking burgers and sausages filled the air, and she could hear the boys playing in the distance, their loud voices calling to each other, calling their parents, getting close to them, shouting, screaming...

Screaming? Yes they were, she could hear them calling for help.

Stella sat bolt upright, looking at the men, who had already heard what she had, and were looking in the direction of the shouts. She watched as Charlie was the first to move, leaping over the terrace wall, closely followed by the others, who ran down the garden, but Charlie turned back to her. "Take Holly inside, stay there." He instructed.

"But what about-"

"I'll get Alex!" He assured her, "Get her inside."

And with that, he followed the others. Being a fast runner, he easily caught up with them, but Stella was slow in taking up Charlie's order, and managed to see a helicopter flying over their house, dangerously low to the ground that it woke up Holly, and she cried loudly over the rushing blades. Going inside the house, she could only hope that they would come back quickly. She knew something was wrong from the moment that Alex had screamed. He never screamed, he was always the one who took charge of the others, looked after them, didn't scare easily, but he had screamed, and she had heard it loud and clear.


	4. Tumbling Dice

* * *

Stella stood inside the door leading out to the terrace, looking through the pane of glass. They had been gone for ten minutes now. _For Christ's sake where are they? _She thought deserately. No one was screaming now, she couldn't hear the helicopter either, she could see it circling in the distance. _Please, don't let it be him. _She begged. _We're all happy now, don't let it be him, not with our sons out there._

* * *

The boys were at the top of a tall, winding tree, watching in horror as the men followed them up. Men in black clothes, hats, and microphone earpeices, who had ruined their game by grabbing Damon, which is when they had all screamed. He had managed to escape by biting the mans hand, and they had pelted up the tree, but even now they were being followed still. Alex sat the lowest in the tree, having got everyone else into the branches first. He was slightly confused, no one had _ever _broken into their house before, or the grounds. Charlie had told him it was impossible.

They heard their Dads calling their name, and Charlie took his eyes off the men below him, now not so far behind. "Dad!" He called out. "Help!" Some of the others cried out.

"Alex, keep climbing!" Charlie told him. If they weren't being chased further up the tree, he would have worried a lot at how high the boys were in the tree. If they feel from that distance, they would be seriously injured. In fact, he recognised it as the tree that Stella didn't like them climbing so high on, but they always did when they couldn't be seen.

Looking up around him desperately, Alex noticed the branches of the next tree interlapping with this one, with small gaps in the branches that theire persuers would never be able to fit through, but they might. "Sideways!" Alex yelled, "Into the next tree." Michael was the closest, and went across first, taking care when the branch they were climbing across thinned out and wavered beneath him. If it wasn't for the branch overhead that they could hold onto, the branch would have fallen beneath him completely. Afterwards, the twins, followed by Michael went across, but Alex was still climbing up the tree.

By now, Charlie and Rob were also in the tree, and Lyle and Left-Ear arrived. Lyle took one look at what was going on and yelled. "Michael, get down from there!"

Michael looked down at him with a strange expression on his face, but being so high up, Lyle couldn't see it. "Are you crazy!"

Then, Lyle saw the guys chasing them, one of which Rob had just thrown to the ground.

Charlie dodged around them. He had been climbing these trees with Rob and the others since hey had come to live here nine years ago, and was somewhat of an expert now, as was Alex, who spent more time in the branches of the trees than he did in the house. Before Alex had a chance to get into the other tree, one guy grabbed his foot. He struggled against him, and hearing the struggle, Charlie looked up, climbing faster, punching a guy who got in his way, landing him neatly beside the ones that Rob was throwing down. He caught sight of Lyle and Left-ear climbing up the other tree, where the boys were beginning to climb down, but Alex was still struggling above him. The man pulled, and Alex slipped down a branch. He tried to pull himself up again, but was helpless against the man's strength. Charlie found a sturdy branch just below the ones that they were on, and stood up with his arms free. The man pulled Alex from the branch and dangled him by his captured foot, unaware that Charlie was below him. "Hi Dad." Alex said as he was dangled directly infront of Charlie, who grabbed him around the chest and tugged him from the mans's grasp. Setting him down beside him, Charlie instructed. "Go, quickly with the others!"Alex wasted no time in climbing again, but Charlie pulled the man down, who fell to the ground with the others.

Now there was only one guy left, in which Rob was having a hard time taking care of. The boys were all on the ground now, with the exception of Alex, who still had half a tree to climb down. As soon as he reached a safe distance though, he jumped down the rest of the way. Charlie lept from a much higher height, landing in a crouch before standing up straight. "Left, Lyle, get them out of here!" He yelled, watching the two men round up all five kids and get them running back towards the house.

Nathan fell back though, looking at Rob fighting. "Dad!"

Rob looked quickly at one of his sons who had remained behind. "Nathan, get out of here!" He didn't move. "Now!" He didn't have a choice as Lyle came back and grabbed his wrist, carting him off with the others.

Charlie punched the guy from behind, sending him to the ground. Rob nodded. "Nice one."

"Thanks."

"You think there's more of them?" Rob asked, looking up at the trees around them.

"Definately. Maybe at-" His face filled with shock.

"Stella!" They both muttered, before running back to the house.

* * *

Stella watched as Lyle and Left-ear came towards the house with the boys and she sighed with relief. None of them were hurt. They were filthy with mud, leaves in their hair and mud on their clothes, but not hurt. She was about to run to them when she remembered Holly was asleep in the chair beside her. She looked over at her, kneeling beside the chair and stroking her blonde hair away from where it fell over her eyes. It was getting longer now, just like her own.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" A voice from behind her complimented.

Stella's eyes widened and she lifted Holly from the chair, afraid to leave her out of her own grasp. She slowly turned on the spot, looking straight into the eyes of their enemy.

"Of course, she's nothing compared to her mother." He continued, stepping closer. "But I'm sure she'll grow up just as nicely. Her name's Holly isn't it?" How had he known that? She wondered. His voice was like poison to her ears, and having not heard it for nine years, and then to hear it so close to her was nauseating.

"Steve." She whispered. "How did you get in here?"

"What? You think I can't get passed your security?" He said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. "Maybe the others forgot to inform you, when I was on the team, security was my specialty." **(A/N: I think this is right, I'm not sure) **He produced a gun from his jacket pocket, and cocked it, reading for her to move. "Just like old times." He teased. "Except, last time it was your father." The mention of Steve's murder brought so much anger to Stella that the look on her face made Steve laugh. "Oh, come on Stella, you have to get over it, forgive and forget. He's gone, there's nothing for it." It was now only the fact that she refused to risk setting Holly down that she wasn't beating Steve to death with her bare hands. "Don't worry, I wouldn't hurt her," He continued, motioning at Holly with the gun. "I'm not that inhuman, but I wouldn't hesitate for a second to let you join dear old John."

She was holding Holly so close now that she was scared she would wake up. _Come on, Charlie, where are you?_

Left-ear put an arm out to stop the boys before they ran into the house. "We can't go in there." He said to them.

"What!" Lyle cried in disbelief, "We can't keep them out here."

Left-ear looked back at Lyle as he came up running with the last of the boys, Nathan and Nick. "You rather they stay here with us, where it's remotely safe, or them be in there with Stella and Steve!" He pointed through the terrace window, where Steve was holding a gun to Stella.

This was when Charlie and Rob came running up to the terrace. "What's going on?" Rob asked.

"We've got an uninvited guest." Lyle said, pointing through the window.

Charlie spotted Steve, and wasted no time in going around to the other entrance. Creeping through the house, he entered the living room from behind. Stella saw him, but didn't make any move to go to him, and Steve hadn't realised her was there. She had never seen so much anger on Charlie's face, except that night in the resturant nine years ago, when she had just finished her 'date' with Steve. He advanced on Charlie from behind, standing only a foot away from him before stopping.

"It's all about the element of suprise, Stella." Steve reminded her. "Even if I've had to wait for nine years to get that suprise, it's worth it. Do you know why?" She didn't move, so he took her answer for a no. "Because I want to see the look on Charlie's face when he knows that I've got his kids and his girlfriend."

Charlie moved. "Wife, actually." He corrected. Steve looked a little shocked, having not known Charlie was back, and Charlie hit him so hard that he fell to the floor.

Meanwhile, a little audience had gathered at the window. "Woah, go Dad!" Alex cheered.

"Yeah, go Charlie." Rob added, watching as Steve tried to get to his feet but Charlie hit him again. He ushered the kisd into the kitchen. "Right, now, you stay here." He told them firmly. "If I see any of you out of this kitchen, then there will be trouble.Ok?" They all nodded in understanding, and Rob turned to Lyle. "Stay here with them."

"Why do I always have to babysit?" Lyle muttered.

"I'll repeat myself, shall I?" Rob said. "If I see any of you out of this ktichen, then there will be trouble." Then he and Left-ear went into the living room. The boys all climbed onto the worktop, looking through the large hatch that looking into the living room. From there they could see everything going on. Lyle was sure that Stella wouldn't be too happy with them climbing all over where the food went, but this was an exception, so Lyle climbed up beside them, making sure that he saw everything they saw.

The effect of the others walking in made Steve frown. "You've really planned this well, haven't you Steve?" Rob teased. "Seven guards, all of which we've taken out."

"And you're wandering around Charlie's house unguarded." Left-ear finished. "The odds aren't looking good, man."

Steve reached desperately for his gun, but Charlie kicked it behind him, and it landed neatly at Left-ear's feet. The boys looking through the hatch all whispered excitedly at the sight of the gun. Charlie put his foot on Steve's neck agressively. "What do you want?" He snarled.


	5. Stick To Your Guns

Everyone stood still, especially Stella. None of them had ever seen Charlie so physically angry before, not even when Steve had killed John. His eyes were practically burning as he glared down at Steve, not lessening his foot on his throat, even for a second. Steve didn't answer straight away, he was too busy trying to push Charlie's foot away, but it wasn't working, Charlie was much stronger than him. "Well?" Charlie snapped loudly, and so suddenly that it made Stella jump.

Holly had woken up now, and she was looking around, slightly confused. Stella walked away, going to where Lyle was with the kids. She set Holly down on the worktop with the others, putting her arms around her so she didn't fall off. She put her hand on Alex's shoulder. "Are you all OK?" She asked them, looking at them each in turn. "Are any of you hurt?" If Steve's men had hurt any of them, she was ready to go back in there and pound the hell out of him herself.

They all shook their heads. "No, we're OK." She sighed with relief.

"Who is that, Mom?" Alex asked, curiously.

Stella sighed. "He's someone I never want you to go near. Any of you. No matter what, never trust him. Do you understand me?" She made them swear not to trust Steve, and they all agreed straight away. Anyone who was worthy of Charlie's angry side, which none of them had seen before, was not worth trusting.

"What's he doing here?" Alex asked again.

Stella shook her head lightly, "I don't know." She admitted quietly.

Lyle went into the other room, as he was no longer needed for babysitting, he thought he might try and get in on the action. Handsome Rob, Left-ear and Lyle all stood around Steve, blocking out any action that the boys hoped to see. Handsome Rob had picked up the gun of Steve's that Charlie had slid over to him, and was admiring it teasingly, which in all truth, was making Steve look quiet a bit more nervous than Charlie strangelling him was.

"Answer me!" Charlie growled at him, leaning closer to his face as he did so before straightening once again and loosening his foot just a little so Steve could talk. He was still pinned to the ground though with a strength that having thought about it, Charlie himself did not know he possessed.

"You still think that you can keep me away, Charlie?" He teased. "You think that you can hide away and that I'll never find you?"

Charlie narrowed his eyes, not giving Steve the satisfaction of an answer, but it had been his plan that Steve never found them. "What do you want from us?" He asked. "What the hell are you here for?"

"Every peice of gold you stole from me! Everything what's rightfully mine!" Steve shouted as loud as he could.

"We don't owe you anything." Charlie told him.

"Are you sure about that?" Steve challenged.

Charlie leaned down closer to him, putting his weight forward so Steve could barely breathe. "Completely."

"How far are you willing to go to keep their lives Charlie?" Steve asked, a desperate attempt to shock Charlie so much that he would release his hold on him, allowing him a few seconds to get up and prepare himself, seeing as he was struggling for breath. "You think you've got it so good, don't you, Charlie." Steve mocked in his cold voice. "You got the gold, you got a girl, and you've got a _family_." His voice was dripping with sarcasm on the word 'family'. "Life isn't perfect, Charlie. Look at John. He lost his girl, then he lost his life, leaving his daughter alone in the world."

"She's not alone." Charlie snarled. "She'll never be alone, never." Though as soon as he had said it, he realised that Steve had found a way to get to him, he had found the sensitive point that he shouldn't have revealed.

Hearing the mention of her father, Stella felt angry again. She hated how Steve used him as a means to taunt them, to get to them. It was worse when she heard Charlie react to it. Steve was going to get exactly what he wanted if Charlie didn't control his emotion. Though, when an arch enemy is threatening your wife and children, controlling emotion isn't the first thing that comes to a man's mind. He was having more luck controlling his urge to kill.

"Will they?" Steve taunted. "Alex? Holly? Damon? Michael? The Twins?" All the others looked ready to take on Steve in the same way Charlie was about nowm, particularly Handsome Rob. "Yes, I know all about them. I know all about your perfect children, your sons, your _princess._"

It wastiptoeing on thelinefor Charlie when he had said their names, but when he had called Holly 'Princess', the name that only they were allowed to use for her, he slammed his fist into his face. Steve hadn't just crossed the line with that, he was now hang-gliding on the other side of the line. Out in the kitchen, the boys gasped as they watched Charlie punch the man on the floor, and the sound of his fist colliding with Steve's face was enough to make Stella wince a little. She had seen Steve before after he had taken one of Charlie's hits, and it wasn't pretty. "Go, Dad." She heard Alex whisper awefully, and she realised that perhaps it wasn't the best thing in the world for the children to be watching. It was too late now though, there was no way that she would be able to get all six children away from what was happening on her own without them asking more questions than they were undoubtable going to ask already.

"Careful, Charlie." Steve warned, apparently he had grown tolerant to Charlie's punches now. After all, he had now experience quite a few, though this one was probably expected."Everything has a reaction. Cause has an effect. Whatever you do to me," He nodded towards the hatch, "I'll do to them."

"You won't get anywhere near them." Rob assured him, as Charlie didn't seem to trust himself to open his mouth. From where the others were standing, it wouldn't have suprised them if sparks had started shooting from his nostrils and steam leaked from his ears.

"I bet you thought that this morning, didn't you?" Steve reminded. "They're not even safe in your own back garden. Anywhere they go, I'll find them."

"If you even touch a hair on their heads I'll shove this gun so far up your ass you'll be spitting bullets." Rob promised harshly, holding out the gun that Steve had previously held.

"Is that thing loaded, Handsome?" Charlie asked curiously. "I can think of a few things to do before he gets near enough to even see their hair again."

"What?" Steve asked, shocked. He obviously hadn't planned on the tables being turned _this _much.

"Sure is." Rob said after a moment of checking. He handed it over to Charlie, who took it, and held it to Steve's face.

"You know, I've never shot someone before, which is more than I can say for you, but at this range, I bet I'm right on target." He said, closing one eye, as if aiming.

Stella's eyes widened. Having the kids watch Charlie hitting someone was something she could deal with, but watching him shoot someone? That was different. "Get down." She told them quickly. They looked at her in arguement. "Now!" She instructed. Reluctantly they got down from the counter and sat on the floor instead. After placing Holly on the floor, she closed the hatch, at least it would block out some sound if anything happened. Inside her mind, she begged Charlie not to do it, she didn't want him to kill another man, no matter what the reason. She wanted to take the children outside, upstairs, anywhere but the next room; but she didn't know whether it was safe. She would rather stay here than risk their safety. She paced around the kitchen, nervously, straining her ears to listen to what they were saying.

Steve closed his eyes, apparently waiting for the gun to sound and his life to end.But the sound never came.

"Charlie?" Left-ear enquired after a few moments of silence, watchingas Charlie lowered the gun to his side.

"I can't do it." Charlie said, shaking his head in defeat. "I can't do what he did to John. He deserves it for what he's done, but I won't be the one to do it."

In the kitchen, Stella smiled to herself,even though no one could see it. She knew that Charlie didn't have it in him to shoot someone. He could threaten them, and make their lives a living hell, but he could never put a gun to their head and pull the trigger. And for that she was glad. She didn't want a murderer for a husband, nor for her children's father.

Charlie had never felt so angry with himself in all his life. Steve deserved the bullet for all he had done to them, to the people who had once called him a friend and ally, but he couldn't bring himself to end a man's life, no matter who the man was. _I should be able to do it, _he thought, _Why can't I pull a trigger to ensure the safety of those we love? Who's to say what he might do because I can't do this? _Defeated, he dropped the gun to the floor as if it were alien to him. He had held a gun many times, but because they always succeeded on their heists, he had never had to use one. He prefered to rely on stealth instead of weapons. "Handsome, I'll leave you in charge of him. Take him for a ride, make sure he's not within ten miles of any of the kids." Charlie instructed.

"Sure." Rob said cheerfully, enjoying the sound of a welcomed torture, dragging Steve to his feet and pulling him through the house. He was heard struggling and yelling at Rob until the front door closed, and the familar sounds of Rob's car revving up was heard. Of course, they all wondered how long it would be before Handsome Rob moaned about having his seats contaminated by that slimeball.

Charlie swore, running his hands over his face and through his short hair, and Stella came into the living room, a hoard of boys following her and Holly in her arms. "Are you all OK?" He asked them.

The boys all nodded. "Later." Stella muttered, reminding him that the kids were there, and she didn't want them to have seen what just happened.

"I'll check the rest of the house, make sure the upstairs is clear." Left-ear told them, going into the hall.

Lyle and Stella collapsed onto the couch. Charlie sat on Stella's other side, and then all the children piled on top of them. Holly sat in Charlie's lap, Alex between Charlie and Stella, Michael beside Lyle, and Damon and the twins on the edge of the couch. They all sat silently, in some form of shock.

"Well," Lyle said. "That was, uh, interesting." Charlie glanced sideways at him, but didn't answer. He was worrying now, about what might happen, what could happen because he wasn't able to act.

"I don't like that guy." Holly said strangely, scared almost. Cuddling up to her Dad, Charlie held her tighter, more reassuringly.

"It's alright, Holly, he won't hurt you." Charlie assured her, kissing the top of her head.

"Yeah, don't worry, Holly." Alex added. "I'll look after you too."

"And us." The twins echoed.

"And me," Damon and Michael said together.

Stella managed a small smile. Another way in which Alex beared an amazing resembalance to his father was his protectiveness. Charlie was always looking out for everyone because he was always in charge, but Alex was always looking out for the others because he was oldest. She cuddled her son to her, and he didn't argue. When their children were together, it reminded her a lot of when they were doing the L.A heist, and the guys that helped them out had started hitting on her. All of the guys had warned them, and they had found it very amusing when they had failed; and when she came back from 'repairing' Steve's cable, they had all reassured her, telling her that she was brave, that she had done brilliantly. They had come with her on her 'date' with Steve, and had sat, out of sight, waiting for her signal should anything go wrong, as it did. Afterwards, when she was a complete wreck because of what Steve had said to her, she found herself in the arms of the four men, being comforted. She knew that the boys would look out for Holly in the same way, because they already did. She was the only girl amongst them, and wherever they went, they would always keep an eye on her, include her in their games. It was lovely for her and Charlie to know that no matter what happened, Holly would always be protected by someone.

"The boys pulled quite a stunt out there today." Lyle told Stella. "I wouldn't have done it."

"Thats 'cause you're a wuss." Nick and Nathan chorused together. Lyle swiped at them playfully but hit thin air purposefully. "Besides, it was Alex's idea to get in the tree."

"Tree?" Stella asked curiously. "Oh, Alex, not that big tree. I hate you climbing that. I nearly die every time you do!" Stella complained.

"Yes, that tree." Alex muttered, shamefully.

"They would have caught us if we didn't!" He argued.

Stella sighed in surrender. "I know. Well done, boys."

Left-ear came back down. "Upstairs is clear." He stood beside the couch, placing his hand on Damon's shoulder.

"Boys, can you take Holly and go play upstairs for a while, please?" Charlieasked them. None of them argued, getting off the sofa. Alex took Holly's hand when Charlie set her on the floor and they went upstairs together. Charlie slid into Alex's place beside Stella and put his arm around her. "Are you alright?" He asked her again, as she hadn't answered him before.

"Fine." She said quietly. "I mean, it's not the first time I've had a gun held on me."

"That doesn't mean anything." Lyle piped up. "We all have, it's just different when kids are involved."

"The kids aren't going to be involved anymore!" Charlie assured them. "He's not going anywhere near them!"

"I wonder where Handsome's taking him?" Lyle wondered.

"Hell I hope." Stella said bitterly.

Charlie hoped now that Stella and the others wouldn't be angry with him for not shooting him. It would certainly have made their lives easier in the future if Steve hadn't been around. For in only six years time, things were about to take another turn for the worst.


	6. Little Master Mischeivous

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I know at the end of the last chapter, I said that five years would pass, but I've changed it to nine years. Mainly because I needed Holly to be older for the storyline.  
Also, I'm going to have a lot of segments from lyrics featuring in The Phantom of the Opera. I don't own any of them, but its because they are in the school play. At the moment it might seem like it has nothing to do with the story and the link with Steve, etc, but it does, trust me! Sorry for the delay in updating, I've been revising, but as of today: no more of that! Exams are over and fanfiction is my main priority until september!  
Sam**

**xx**

Seventeen year old Alex Croker sat at the back of his drama theory lesson with his friend Jason Hallis. First lesson of his last year at Oakcrest School. It was a private school, considering that his parents were fairly wealthy, but thankfully he didn't have to stay in the halls of residence that some of the kids did. It was only a ten minute drive or a half an hour walk from their house, so he, his sister Holly, and the others got to go home every day. Jason, unfortunately, didn't. His parents lived in England, where he was originally from, but he didn't talk about them much; which to Alex, was understandable, seeing as Jason had been living at Oakcrest during term time since he was 10. Alex knew that he wouldn't think to highly of his parents if they did that; but they had spent ages choosing a school for him and Holly that meant that they could go home every day. So he felt pretty sorry for Jason.

Drama was his least favourite subject as well, more so than Music, which he found unbeliably boring. It just went to show how different he was from his sister, now twelve, whose three favourite subjects were Music, Drama and Art. He didn't see the point in them. His favourite subject was P.E, but with the amount of exams he had in the following summer, his timetable had changed so that he only had one lesson of P.E a week. He wondered if it would seem suspicious if that was the only lesson they turned up to that year. What made the whole subject worse was the teacher he had been allocated to this year. He had been so mischevious and playful in last years sessions with Mr Harris that the old man had sworn to find someone to 'sort him out' for his final year. Hence: Mr Sykes. Mr Sykes had been Holly's drama teacher since she first came to Oakcrest when she was seven, and five years on, she was his favourite pupil.

My Sykes came into the classroom with an airy expression on his face. He had a reputation for being a bit of a ditz, which was amazing considering he was supposed to be the best teacher in the school.

"Here we go..." Jason muttered under his breath to Alex, making sure he moved his mouth only a little so that Mr Sykes didn't notice.

Mr Sykes put his briefcase on the table, and turned to face the class. He looked around the seventeen year olds with a look of disgust on his face. "Oh this is ridiculous!" He exclaimed. "Right, starting with the back row, I want every other row to stand up." Hesistating, Alex and the others on the back row, and every other row in front of them, all pushed their chairs back and stood up. "Now, this is the amount of people who are going to fail my class this year - fifty percent."

As confused glares swept across the classroom, it was inevitably Alex who spoke up. "Um, sir, would that be the fifty percent standing up or the fifty percent sitting down?"

He gave them all an evil smile. "We'll soon find out won't we. Sit down."

They all sat down, thinking about whether or not they would be the ones to fail. Mr Sykes got out his register from the briefcase and began working his way down the list of alphabetical names.

"Allen, Amy."

"Here." A girl with long dark hair and green eyes answered. Alex fidgetted in his seat a little and Jason winked at him. Alex had had a crush on Amy since his first year. In reality, she liked him as well, but they were both too stubborn to do anything about it.

"Bradley, Sarah." The girl sitting beside Amy, whom Alex didn't get on with at all, looked up from where she was doodling all over her arm.

"Here."

"Carmichael, Robert."

"Here, and it's Robbie." Robbie corrected. Another of Alex's friends, he hated being called by his full name.

"Croker, Alexander."

Now it was Alex's turn to correct him. "Yeah, and it's Alex."

"Croker?" He repeated to himself. Alex rolled his eyes. "Any relation to-"

"Holly? Yeah, she's my sister."

"That's all very well, Croker, but in this class I don't appreciate students interrupting me. Take that as a warning."

A warning after only a minute or two was a record for Alex, who was swiftly following in his fathers footsteps. Mischevious, crafty, and stealthy, and the knack for being able to get any information he wanted about anything was natural to him. Of course, Stella didn't really approve of it, but Charlie thought it was hilarious. His first mission of the school year was to find out about the next school production for Holly. She always performed in them, no matter what they were, and almost always got the main part. The only problem was that he had to get hold of the sheet of plans out of Sykes's briefcase which he never left alone. He had to lure him out of the classroom somehow. Maybe at first break.

His first mission proved a success, much to the amusement of his comrades. He got Nathan and Nick to distract him by getting them to tell him that there was trouble in the auditorium. He had followed, but it hadn't gone exactly to plan, seeing as he had taken the briefcase with him. He took it down to his office, locking the door afterwards. This would put them a few minutes behind schedule, and cut it very finely with Nathan and Nick's distraction. By the time they reached the auditorium on the other side of school and realised that there was no trouble, he would be back. Alex and Damon had managed to pick the lock within a few moments, and had let themselves into his office. Damon took out his digital camera, and took a photograph of the plans, which he would load onto Jason's computer in his room and print it off. Then they left the office, managed to relock the door, and had only just made it around the corner before Sykes appeared at the end of the opposite corridor, complaining out loud about 'terrible twins'.

By the end of the half-hour break, they had a set of school production plans ready to give to Holly, all he had to do, was to get someone that could actually read Sykes' handwriting. He hid them at the bottom of his bag, ready for when they met up with Holly at the end of the day to walk home.

His next subject was biology, in which they were looking under the microscopes at various things which Alex could neither pronounce not understand. Instead, him, Jason and Robbie sat at the back of the lab, messing around with the microscope.

"Hey, ya know what, Croker? With this microscope, your nose hairs look like the Amazon Rain Forest. " Robbie said playfully, holding the microscope close to Alex's nose.

"If you don't get that thing out of my face, I'm gonna have the Natives come out and eat you." He threatened in return, taking a deep breath through his nose. Immediately, Robbie pulled the microscope away, and Jason laughed. "You know," Alex started thoughfully. "I've just figured out the best thing about this school."

"What's that?" Jason laughed, unable to believe that Oakcrest had any good qualities.

"Once you graduate, you don't have to come back."

They all burst into laughter again, but a disapproving look from their teacher quietened them.

At lunch, Alex showed the sheet of notes around to see if any of the boys could read it. Damon stared at it, blinked a couple of times, and passed it on to Nathan and Nick, who passed it straight on to Michael, who looked at it closely before startling them by saying rather dramatically. "You will curse the day, you did not do, all the Phantom asked of you!" Everyone stared at him as if he were some kind of mental case. "What?" He asked.

"What was all that about?" Damon asked. "Have you taken anything?"

"You wanted to know what play it was." Michael explained.

"You think that line meant anything to us?" Alex asked in stupidity.

"It's the one Holly's been waiting for." He informed them. Again, they stared at him. "You really haven't got a clue have you?"

"Come on, Mike. I get the goods for you, I don't understand what you both see in this stuff."

Michael and Holly both shared the same ambition: to be an actor. Holly loved all performing arts, whereas Michael loevd everything except dancing. "It's the Phantom of the Opera." He told them, folding up the paper and handing it back to Alex. "It's the play our Moms took Holly to see for her eleventh birthday, that night when we went to see the monster trucks with our Dads. She's loved it ever since, spends half her time reciting the songs and quoting the play, and had been suggesting to Sykes that they do that for the school production ever since. Looks like she finally got through to him."

They continued staring at him, Alex broke the silence. "How do you know all of this?" He asked in wonder.

"She tells me in a secret acting code which you guys can't understand." Michael said.

Stupidly, Damon said; "Oh yeah, and what code is this?"

"Plain English." Michael said, taking a bit of his hot dog.

Holly didn't join them for lunch that day, and she came out of school to meet them looking cheerful and happy. "Hiya!" She said, practically bouncing along the path. "Alex, did you-"

"Sure did." He said proudly, producing the sheet of paper to her. Her eyes lit up as she took the paper and read it so quickly that her eyes were like a blur moving backwards and forwards. "Is that what you were looking for?"

All was silent, and then...

"OH MY GOD!" She cried excitedly. "The Phantom of the Opera! Wait til Mom hears about this!"

"Wait til Dad hears about this," Alex laughed sarcastically. "Oh yes, Dad will love this." The sarcasm in his voice earned him a glare from Holly.

"Michael, are you going to audition?" She asked him as they started to walk out the gates.

"I don't know." Michael said.

"Come on, Michael!" Holly said pleadingly. "We always audition together!"

It was some unspoken tradition: the production audition. Holly continued to look at Michael with the puppy dog eyes that worked on all the men so well. They worked best on Charlie, then Handsome Rob, and Michael after that. Alex had grown tolerant to them over the years.

"All right." Michael surrendered quickly, not wanting a guilt trip to follow from her as well. "But I'll need your help."

"Deal." She said smiling.

"When are the auditions?" Damon asked.

"Next thursday, the announcement's going out next monday." Holly said, reading back over the sheet to check.

All the way back home, Holly talked non stop about the play. Suggesting characters for Michael to audition for. Eventually, they were both in their own world, unaware of the others talking to them. One they reached the gates of Alex and Holly's house, they all went inside, knowing that their parents would be there for dinner that night anyway.


	7. Almost Paradise

In the kitchen that evening, Charlie helped Stella clear away. It was rather late when the others had left, and Alex and Holly had dissappeared up to bed. Charlie was drying up the plates while Stella took them from him and stacked them away in the cupboards. Holly had told them all about the school production, and although the play bored him to death, Charlie promised that he would go see it as she was in it, figuring that having Holly in a role would make it more interesting for him to watch. He kept looking out Stella out of the corner of his eye, watching her, and then smiling and looking away when she caught him. It had been a game he had been playing with her now for years when he knew something and she didn't.

Eventually, she gave in. "Ok, what is it?" She asked in surrender.

"Nothing." Charlie lied.

"Nothing?" Stella challenged.

"That's right." Charlie said with his cheeky smile.

"I don't believe you." She said with a raised eye brow. "You've been doing this for years, spill."

"I told you it's nothing." He said, still grinning, which proved otherwise. "What are you going to do? Interrogate me?"

Stella took the plate from Charlie's hand, setting it on the worktop. She stepped very close to him, with their faces only inches apart. "No." She told him. He could feel her breath on his face, and he leaned in to kiss her, but she playfully turned her face when he leaned forward so instead his lips grazed her cheek. "But you certainly aren't getting any of that until you tell me." She teased, stepping away and taking the plate from where she had put it down.

Charlie looked crestfallen, like a kid told that Christmas was cancelled forever. "But-but-"

Stella laughed, her own devious smile over her lips. "Unless you want to tell me of course..." She suggested.

For a moment, he looked torn and bit his lip a little. Stella stood back from the stacked plates and faced him again, challenging him with her eyes. She knew full well that this plan worked with him, but it was always fun to see how long she could keep it up before he cracked. When he didn't say anything, she knew that this would take more work. She went up close to him again, taking the drying up cloth from his hands and throwing it onto the worktop. Putting her lips very close to his ear, she whispered to him: "Lets see how long you can stay silent for, shall we, Charlie?" She teased playfully.

"Stella," He said, mocking a hurt tone. "That's not fair, you know I can't resist you." He reminded her.

"I know." She replied, so close to him now that her nose was close enough to grave against his. "I also know that all I have to do is stand here, and that you would have told me in," She checked the clock over her shoulder. "Two minutes."

"And if I last the two minutes?" He asked playfully, confident that he could do it.

"Then you may kiss me." She informed him.

"Deal."

So the game began. She put her arms around his neck, making sure to keep her lips a safe distance from his so he would not suprise her. Thirty seconds passed, and Charlie maintained his cocky demeanor.

A minute, and his cheeky grin seemed more force.

A minute and a half, and he was biting his lip again, restraining himself. His hands went to Stella's hips to distract himself from the countdown. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if daring him to keep his hands there. Challenging her dare, he snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her whole body closer to him. She smiled, but he could tell that it was one of nearing triumph. He snuck a look at the clock, twenty seconds left. He returned his eyes to Stella's, doing a mental countdown.

"Ten...nine...eight." He began out loud, and her triumph began to turn into amusement. Charlie held her as tight as he could, so that she would not try to extend his torment longer by breaking free of his grasp; the only way they coud be closer now was if they were kissing.

"Five...four...three...two..one." Charlie finished. As he finished his countdown, he saw her smile widen. Claiming his prize, he sought her lips, and she clung tightly to him as he deepened the kiss. Whether it lasted for a minute or an hour, neither knew, lost in each other they exchanged the kiss which made her knees weak and his head dizzy. Parting, but not letting go of her waist, Stella opened her eyes to find Charlie already smiling at her with his cheeky grin once again.

"Well," She began, "You've definately improved over time." She assessed.

"Resisting you or kissing?" He asked.

"Hmm..." She replied after a moment's silence, "I'll decide later." She said teasingly. "So?"

"So what?" He asked, giving her another short kiss.

"What is this thing that you refuse to tell me, and insist on winding me up with?"

"I can't tell you." He said stubbornly. Stella was impressed, he certainly was holding up well this time.

"Because then it won't be a suprise."

"Charlie, please?" She begged, pouting a little.

"Nope." He said with a cheeky grin.

* * *

"Well, Mr Bain everything seems to be in order."

"Good. How long?"

"There's a school production in a few months time. January 12th."

"It's too long. We need sooner."

"It's the only shot, unless we can convince them to change the date."

"Make it sooner. November."

"Yes, sir. If you don't mind me asking. How do you expect to get Croker to come to you?"

"Are you a father, Shaun?"

"No, sir."

"Neither am I, but I watched Croker long enough to know that he'll come, and he'll come quickly."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right! You've worked with me for ten years on this one, Shaun. Don't mess it up now."

"No, sir."

"Good. Now, I want you to make sure that the Croker girl gets that place."

"How?"

"I don't know. Send someone in as a talent scout, make sure that she gets the part."

"Yes, sir."

"And if anything goes wrong, I'll know who to go to."

"Of course, Mr Bain."

**Wanna make a few guesses? Hope you like this one, it's just a little gap filler with a little bit of fluff. **


	8. Richer Than Gold

**Ok, Ok, Ok, I'm sorry I haven't been updating for a while. Very sorry. I haven't really had as much a chance as I would have liked becuase I've been called in to work a few times over the weekend (it sucks) and I've just got back from work as I write this. Thank you for all the reviews, and for darkdestiney2000 enquired about the quote, it was from Saved By The Bell, well spotted! It was too irresistable, I had to use it! In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to knight darkdestiney as my biggest Italian Job fan! I'll warn you: There is quite a lot of lyrics in the following chapters, all from Phantom of the Opera. I also had to make up a surname for Lyle and Michael.  
Sam  
xx**

The day of the auditions dawned to be a fantastic day. The sun was up, the birds were singing, and the day was as warm as an August summer. None of the children besides Michael and Holly actually wanted to go to school, for obvious reasons. The notices for auditions had been handed out on the following Monday, as noted, and it was required that if they were auditioning for the roles of either The Phantom, Christine, or Raoul, they must auditions in pairs or threes on a chosen song. Naturally, Holly was auditioning for Christine, and once persuaded, Michael had been fairly excited about auditioning for the part of Raoul. They had spent the whole weekend shut up in Holly's bedroom, practicing the different songs that they could perform together. Holly had already been spoken to about the play by Mr Sykes, who had informed her that if she performed well with Michael, he would ask her to perform with the one he had chosen to play The Phantom, to make sure they would sound right together. So as well as learning the lyrics to one song in advance, she was also having to learn the title song 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Coincidently, she already knew every line to every song. Michael and Holly had chosen to sing 'All I Ask Of You' as it was the only song that they could find that Christine and Raoul sung alone.

Stella and Charlie had been begging them all weekend to give them a preview, but neither of them would. In the end, it was driving Charlie, of all people mad. He wanted to hear them singing, so when Holly disappeared upstairs to gather her bag for school, he confronted Alex and the boys, whom had arrived to meet them on the walk to school. They would wait there until Lyle arrived with Michael.

"Guys, you're pretty good at getting around school now aren't you?" Charlie asked innocently.

"Sure." They chorused.

"Anything you want, we can get you." Alex told him. "Phone numbers, emails, computer programs.." The list was endless at what they could have access to. Sometimes Charlie regretted that their children were growing up to be so much like they had been, but it was moments like this that made him proud of it.

"Well, I don't want to get hold of anything." Charlie said.

"What can we do for you then?" Alex asked.

"What time is the audition?" Charlie asked.

"Twelve-thirty." Damon said, looking at the writing on his hand. "In the auditorium."

"Dad, you thinking of sneaking in?" Alex asked with a playful grin.

"Maybe." Charlie said with a smile.

"Good. You can join us then." Nathan said with a wink.

"Yeah, we promised Holly that we'd have a peak in from somewhere hidden to give her a bit of an audience." Alex said.

"Oh really? Where is this 'somewhere hidden' dare I ask?" Charlie said.

"We're gonna climb through the technician box and onto the rafters." Damon told him.

"Isn't than a bit dangerous?" Charlie asked, knowing instantly that Stella would as likely as not faint if she knew that her son was hanging from the rafters of a roof as high as the school auditorium.

"And driving through L.A in mini coopers with $27 million of gold in the back whilst being shot at and chased by a helicopter isn't?" Alex challenged.

"We've done it plenty of times." Nick assured him.

"So, are you in?" Alex asked, just like Charlie.

Charlie grinned cheekily. That was enough an answer for the rest of them.

"Brilliant. But remember, Dad, you're not in charge this time." Alex reminded. "You're following my lead."

Charlie shook his head. _Stella's right, he is way too much like me. _"Alright." He agreed.

"Meet us outside the auditorium at twelve." Alex instructed. "That way we'll see who this other guy Holly's up against it."

"Alright, people." Mr Sykes said, standing before the small gathering of auditioners. "Today, I am not the only one deciding if you get the role or not. I am joined by a talent scout from the New York School of Performing Arts." Holly looked around, catching sight of a tall man wearing a suit and sunglasses with dusty blonde hair sitting beside Syke's seat. She looked at Michael with an amazed look on her face. "He will be offering his professional opinion on the matters of your performance, and may even be selecting a student for a scholarship programme once your time at Oakcrest is over. Ok, seeing as the auditions for the Phantom were held yesterday, we are doing the rest of the cast today. First up today, Holly Croker and Michael Byrne." Mr Skyes called out, faking a french accent as he always did.

Holly and Michael stood up from their seats behind Sykes and went up onto the stage. Being on that stage gave Holly an amazing buzz. She looked around them at the small crowd of other girls auditioning for the roles of Christine, Carlotta and Meg Giry. Some of them gave her an evil glare as she walked passed them, seeing her as a threat to their chances of getting the role, but she didn't care. She was tempted to look up at the rafters as she climbed the steps, knowing that somewhere above her, Alex, Nathan, Nick and Damon were watching them. Of course, she didn't know that Charlie was also up there.

They held onto the metal scaffolding which lined the roof of the auditorium, taking seats on the metal poles. Being that high up whilst the stage lights were on garanteed that no one below would be able to see them unless they were looking for them, so as long as they stayed quiet.

"Who is that guy?" Charlie asked Alex. "And what's wrong with his voice?"

"Thats Sykes." Alex whispered to him. "He thinks he's French. He tells people he is French. He tells his family they're French. But in reality, he is as French as he is a damn monkey."

"Jesus, a talent scout!" Damon exclaimed quietly. Alex and Charlie frowned, they hadn't heard all of Syke's announcement becuase of Alex's commentation.

"What?" Charlie whispered.

"He's going to offer a student a scholarship to a New York acting school!" Damon replied.

"Hey, they're up!" The twins whispered in unison.

The talent scout stood up and surveyed them both through his sunglasses. "Please state your names." He said.

"Holly."

"Michael."

"Your _full _names please."

They looked to each other, since when did they need their full names?

"Holly Amelia Croker."

"Michael Aaron Byrne."

Something about that man made them both nervous. Charlie recognised him, but he could not say where from. Maybe he was someone he stole something off in high school, but that didn't narrow it down to a small selection of people as much about a hundred.

The talent scout scribbled something down on the clipboard he was holding. "And the song you will be performing?"

"All I Ask Of You." They said together.

He returned to his seat. "You may proceed."

They waited a few more seconds before starting, Michael coming in first.

_"No more talk of darkness,  
__Forget these wide-eyed fears.  
__I'm here, nothing can harm you -  
__My words will warm and calm you.  
Let me be your freedom,  
__Let daylight dry your tears.  
I'm here, with you, beside you,  
__To guard you and to guide you."_

Holly came in with her beautiful voice, and Charlie smiled as he watched her.

_"Say you love me every waking moment,  
__Turn my head with talk of summertime.  
__Say you need me wit you, now and always,  
__Promise me that all you say is true -  
__That's all I ask of you."_

Michael came back in right on time just as Holly finished the last line, giving them a look of approval from the talent scout.

_"Let me be your shelter,  
__Let me be your light.  
__You're safe - No one will find you,  
__Your fears are far behind you."_

Holly continued once again. Everyone in the auditorium was silent as they listened politely and in awe at their voices.

_"All I want is freedom,  
__A world with no more night.  
__And you, always beside me,  
__To hold me and to hide me."_

Michael's voice came in much stronger now, exactly as it was meant to, and some of the girls in the back row were whispering amongst themselves.

_"Then say you'll share with me on love, one lifetime,  
__Let me lead you from your solitude.  
__Say you need me with you here, beside you.  
__Anywhere you go, let me go too -  
__Christine, that's all I ask of you."_

Holly again came in, her voice softer and gentle.

_"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime  
__Say the word and I will follow you."_

For the first time in the song, they sang together, their voices working so well together that even Sykes was almost jumping in his seat.

_"Share each day with me,  
__each night,  
__each morning."_

_"Say you'll love me..."_

_"You know I do..."_

_"Love me - that's all I ask of you."_

They all applauded, even the girls who had glared at Holly. Charlie was grinning, and Alex stopped his father from applauding. "You want us to get detention?" He asked in a desperate hushed voice.

"But she was brilliant!" Charlie argued.

"And you weren't supposed to have seen her!" Alex reminded.

Down below, Michael and Holly started to descent the stage when Sykes stood up. "Wait one moment, Miss Croker." He said delightfully. "We'd like for you to try a song with the Phantom. Patrick!"

A boy of Alex's age came down from the back row, whom she hadn't noticed before. "Smarmy Bastard." Alex muttered, seeing him walk down. Charlie didn't bother to reprimand him on his choice of language, it was obvious from the way that he expected everyone to adore him, and most people did, that he was exactly as Alex had explained.

Holly remained on stage, and Patrick came onto the stage. He was an attractive boy, no one could deny him that, with shining black hair and a soft boy-like face. But everyone knew that he was stubborn and mean. "Now," Sykes continued. "Miss Croker, I trust that you know the song, The Phantom of the Opera?" What a stupid question, of course she knew it.

"Yes, sir." She replied obediently.

"Good. You may begin whenever you are ready."

She drew the lines up in her mind, not knowing at all what this Patrick sounded like, and prepared herself for both the best and worst.

_"In sleep he sang to me,  
__In dreams he came.  
__That voice which calls to me,  
__And speaks my name.  
__And do I dream again?  
__For now I find.  
__The Phantom of the Opera is there -  
__Inside my mind."_

There was a few moments before Patrick began in which he winked at her. But when he sang, his voice was wonderous and powerful. Above, Alex was disgusted to see Holly looking at him in awe.

_"Sing once again with me,  
__Our strange duet.  
__My power over you,  
__Grows stronger yet.  
__And though you turn from me,  
__To glance behind.  
__The Phantom of the Opera is there -  
__Inside yout mind."_

Holly continued singing, seeing Patrick in a new respect for his vocal talent.

_"Those who have seen your face,  
__Draw back in fear.  
__I am the mask you wear..."_

_"...It's me they fear."_

Sykes nearly collapsed in the rest of the song where they sang together, and the talent scout was writing furiously on his clipboard.

_"Your/my spirit and your/my voice  
__In one combined.  
__The Phantom of the Opera is there,  
__Inside your/my mind..."_

_"In all your fantasies,  
__You always knew.  
__That man and mystery..."_

_"Were both in you.."_

_"And in this labyrinth,  
__Where night is blind,  
__The Phantom of the Opera is there/here,  
__Inside your/my mind."_

They faded out, and Sykes praised them grataciously. Alex and the others quickly retraced their steps and disappeared from the auditorium roof, and Charlie managed to be out of the school gates before Holly even knew he was there. Even though he hated theater, he knew that he would go and see the school production, it was different when the kids were involved, and he knew that Holly would be awarded the place she wanted so much. When he got home, he told Stella where he had been, but, of course, failed to mention that they had been watching from forty feet above her.


	9. If I Just Dreamed

**Thanks to darkdestiney2000, warrior of the shadow, and HockeyGurl for their reviews for the last chapter, I'm glad that putting the play into it hasn't made it strange. Who wants to see some more CharlieStella romance? Let me know in your review, because I've got a great idea coming up, but I'm only going to use it if I know that people want to see a little fluffy scene(it's the suprise that Charlie refuses to reveal). Also, I downloaded a script to the Italian Job the other day which wasn't the final draft, and mentioned that Philly Steak came to Stella's house when she was little and dropped quaters on the floor for her to find while he played poker with John. I don't know if anyone else has read that, but it gave me the idea of doing a fic of Stella growing up and ending at her father's death. If anyone is interested in it, please let me know!**

**Sam**

**xx**

After school, Holly and the boys came into the Croker house. Holly ran through ahead of them screaming at the top of her lungs: "I got it! I got the part!" Charlie and Stella were in the garden, relaxing in the remains of the summer sun when they first heard her shouts. She came crashing through the house and it was a wonder she hadn't knocked anything over and broken it with the amount of things she had run into to find her parents. When they heard her approaching through the doors, Stella stood up to greet her. Holly ran head on into her and hugged her. "Mom! I got it! I got the part of Christine!" She cried excitedly.

"Well done!" Stella praised, equally excited for her.

Holly went next to Charlie, and was hugging him when the boys came out into the garden.

"Thats great, Princess." Charlie said with a grin. The nickname 'princess' had never really faded, not for Charlie. She would always be his princess, and she knew it. She was still a daddy's girl even though she had grown up a bit.

"It was amazing, Dad." Alex said slyly, getting a raised, teasing eyebrow from Stella as he did so.

"Yeah, you should have seen her," Damon agreed.

Charlie winked at them over Holly's shoulder. "Trust you to sneak in." Charlie muttered under his breath, but loud enough for them to hear. Alex was about to reply with 'trust you to join us' when he remembered that Holly wasn't to know. Charlie grinned as Holly pulled away from him.

"I have to go practice!" She announced, running back through the house, only to appear in the window beside the stereo, flicking through the CD's until she found the one she was looking for 'The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack' and ran upstairs with it.

"How did your audition go, Michael?" Stella asked him. Charlie hadn't stayed long enough to find out if either of them had got their parts, as they were announced in an assembly at the end of the day, and if he had been spotted on the roof then, he would have been in trouble.

"Thanks to Holly, I got the part too." He said with a confident smile. "I really didn't think I'd be able to sing any of the songs, but Holly helped."

"Who did you get?" Stella asked again.

"Raoul." He said. "I get to play Holly's on stage fiancee."

The others had never thought of this, and the boys looked to each other with disgust on their face. "But-" Alex began. "We're like brothers. That would make you like brother and sister!" He protested.

"It's almost like incest." The twins said in unison, the strange awe for the disgusting was evident in their voice.

It was no secret that Michael had a small crush on Holly, as they were always together growing up, but to them it was just a brilliant friendship. Stella thought it was sweet, as did the other adults, even though they were too manly to admit it was 'sweet'. The boys all flopped down on the patio, only Michael thought logically enough to lounge on one of the chairs, and Stella went back to her own as up above, music from the Phantom of the Opera flooded through Holly's open window.

"I'm bored." Damon announced.

Stella looked up with a warning look to Alex, and found that already he had a curious look in his face. He was always one for coming up with a means of entertainment when it came to the words 'I'm bored', which usually resulted in a concussion or a broken object, more than likely a bone. "No." She said, seeing the look on his face.

"What? How did you know-" He started desperately, trying to defend himself.

"I'm your mother, I know everything." She said simply, picking up her magazine and continuing to read the recipe she intended to try. Alex stood up and walked into the house. "Where are you going?" She asked him.

Alex turned to her with a cheeky smile, alike to Charlie's, but unique in its own way. "I thought you knew everything." He challenged.

Charlie laughed at his response. "That's my boy." He said under his breath.

The other boys continued to figure out what they could do until their parents arrived to collect them. "Let's go fake an injury at the ice rink and sue for damages." Nathan suggested.

Charlie looked up at them with a confused look on his face. "What the hell would you want to do that for?" He asked. "We've got millions between us, and you want to sue someone for a fake injury?"

The twins looked at each other and then back at Charlie. "Sure, why not?"

He shook his head. "I give up with you two." He said quietly.

There was a small silence, broken by a small humming. Charlie looked up at Holly's window, and the noise definately wasn't coming from her. He wouldn't be able to hear her humming over the noise of that music. It was a good thing that their neighbours were quite a distance away and couldn't hear her music else they might have the police on their doorstep. He looked around, the boys were chatting amongst themselves, and Stella was twirling a lock of her between her fingers whilst she read her magazine, tapping her foot against the others and humming the tune that was floating down from the window. Charlie smiled at her. She looked up at him and grinned back.

"What?" She asked, still smiling.

"Do I need an excuse to look at my lovely wife?" He asked innocently.

"You do when you have _that _look on your face Charlie Croker." She replied.

He held his hands up in defence. "I was just thinking." He admitted.

"About what?" She asked.

"Your suprise."

He still hadn't told her, but she knew as much to know that it was happening tomorrow, friday night. He had the whole evening planned out for them, and was extremely pleased with himself for thinking it up, and for resisting her every attempt to worm it out of him. Usually he was terrible with keeping secrets, and would always end up telling her when he was planning something. But this was special, and so he had kept his lips tightly sealed.

Alex reappeared in the doorway holding his hands in his pockets. "Guys, I'm all out." He said.

"All out of what?" Stella asked, forgetting Charlie's incessive teasing.

"Ideas." He admitted.

At that moment, Lyle came in through the house and settled down on the bench. "Hi guys." He greeted. "How'd it go, Mikey? He asked Michael.

Michael nodded. "I got the part." He informed him.

"Nice one." He said with a grin. "Not that I'll have any idea, but who?"

"Raoul." As expected, there was a confused expression on his face. "Holly's on stage fiancee." He added, and Lyle nodded.

"Bet you love that." He said with a chuckle.

"Dad!" Michael said, trying to quiet him. Stella and Charlie laughed, they didn't mind.

Lyle pulled his laptop out of his bag and opened it up. He began to talk to Charlie about his latest program, and Stella wandered upstairs to Holly's room.

She stood outside her door for a few moments, listening to her daughter's voice as she sang her favourite song of the play 'Wishing you were somewhere here again.'

_"You were once my one companion,  
you were all that mattered.  
You were once a friend and father,  
then my world was shattered. "_

Stella knocked on the door and Holly stopped singing. "Come in." She shouted, pausing the CD. Stella stepped in, closing the door again behind her. "Oh, hi Mom." She said sweetly as Stella came and flopped onto the end of Holly's bed, where she was lying on her front, with a page of lyrics in front of her, even though she didn't need them. As soon as she had found out about the play, she had printed them all off, not only as a help to her, but also for Michael.

"Hi sweetie." She replied. "Don't stop singing on my account. I just came up here for some female company." She assured.

"Uncle Lyle here?" Holly asked, understanding.

"Uh huh." Holly always called the other men Uncle, she had done so ever since she was little. "Go on," Stella encouraged. "Carry on singing, I like that song." She smiled.

Holly shrugged. "All right." She put the CD back to the beginning of the track, and kept her face down at the lyrics as she sang to Stella.

_"You were once my one companion,  
you were all that mattered.  
You were once a friend and father,  
then my world was shattered. _

_Wishing you were somehow here again,  
wishing you were somehow near.  
Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed,  
somehow you would be here._

_Wishing I could hear your voice again,  
knowing that I never would.  
Dreaming of you won't help me to do,  
all that you dreamed I could!_

_Passing bells and sculpted angels,  
cold and monumental.  
Seem, for you, the wrong companions,  
you were warm and gentle._

_Too many years fighting back tears,  
why can't the past just die!_

_Wishing you were somehow here again,  
knowing we must say goodbye!  
Try to forgive, teach me to live!  
Give me the strength to try!_

_No more memories, no more silent tears!  
No more gazing across the wasted years!  
Help me say goodbye  
Help me say goodbye..."_

Stella listened to every line she sang, trying to find the deeper meaning in it. Holly looked up from the lyrics thoughtfully and spoke quietly. "Mom, why is that one your favourite?" She asked.

Stella was silent. "I don't know." She said.

"Is it because it reminds you of Grandad?"

Holly and Alex had been told all about the legendary John Bridger, their grandfather. They knew how much Stella and Charlie both missed him, and if she admitted it, the words in the song described exactly how she had felt that day when Charlie had waltzed back into her life telling her that they'd found Steve. Stella stared up at the ceiling. "I guess so." Holly moved and hugged her mother, seeing that she was getting upset a little.

"Sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to make you sad." She said quietly.

"It's all right." Stella said with a smile. "I was just thinking how much he would have loved you and Alex." She said. "He would have loved you so much." She told Holly.

"Just because you can't see him, that doesn't mean he isn't there." Holly said, remembering when her friend's mother had died last year. "Ally's Dad said that even though her Mom was gone, she was still there watching there, and looking after them both." Stella smiled at Holly. "I've never met Grandad, but I know he's there."

"You do?" Stella asked.

"Yeah. When I see you upset, I always ask Grandad that if he is there, to let you smile. And he does."

Stella looked at Holly proudly. There was an untold wisdom in the girl that she rarely showed, but when she did, it was amazing how much it made sense. "He always told me that when I had kids, I would be a great mother." She told Holly, "And that I would have a wonderful man to love me, and kids whom I loved. When he told me that, I was eighteen years old, and had just broken up with someone I was seeing. I didn't believe him when he first told me. I didn't believe him until the day Alex was born, and your Dad was at my side the whole time."

Holly smiled. "See, Grandad's still there. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to you 'cause you're his little girl, and so he made sure that you got good things."

Stella smiled again, and they were silent for a few minutes. "You want to help me make dinner?" She asked.

"What are we having?"

"Whatever you want."


	10. Thank You For Loving Me

**Thanks for all the quick responses! It makes me and my writing feel so loved! **

**Darkdestiney2000 - I did hear about the sequal! They're going to call it the Brazillian Job and its got the whole gang - Stella, Charlie (drools at thought of him in red shirt and leather jacket again), Handsome Rob, Lyle and Left-ear! I can't wait! There's a few details on imdb, but I've read some brilliant articles as well from other websites. **

**HockeyGurl - I'm happy that you enjoyed the Stella and Holly talk, it seemed too good to drop, and thank you for your support on the Stella growing up story, I'm going to make a plan for it and start posting it as soon as I've finished this one. Im very glad that you think its cute that Michael likes Holly :) I was worried that people thought it would be weird. But as requested: There is a LOT of Charlie and Stella in this chapter, as well as a bit between Rob and his girlfriend.**

**Also, I'm not completely sure about the whereabouts of Stella's shop in regards to this or the beach, but lets just say that in my mind, it's close. And I'm still upset that I don't own Charlie's smile. I want that so much. He looks so cheeky doesn't he? So this will be quite a long chappie today, and it took me over four hours to write :D Does anyone else think that he looks cutest at the point in the movie where he is introducing Stella to the guys and he is wearing the red shirt and leather jacket? **

**Thanx again guys you're amazing! **

**Sam**

**xx**

Stella had been checking how business was going in the lock and safe store today, and although she had to stop for a while to deal with an awkward customer on the phone, who wanted a safe delivered to his home but wanted one that couldn't be cracked easily and wanted a list of all the ones she had difficulty with, it was a pretty smooth day. The kids had gone to school without a fuss, and after her talk with Holly the night before, she felt amazingly refreshed. There was another reason for her general good mood at the moment though: today was Friday. And later that night, she would find out her suprise from Charlie - finally.

She was amazed that he hadn't given in seeing as he kept on rubbing her face in the fact that she didn't have a clue about it. She knew that Handsome was in on it, but he wasn't spilling the beans either, and she couldn't interrogate him like she could with Charlie, for which she was openly glad. Either way, her suffering was going to end in a few hours. She finally got off the phone after two hours, she hated to think of this guy's phone bill, and looked at the clock. Four o'clock. She said her goodbyes to the others who worked there, and got into her red mini-cooper, which, despite the vast amounts of money she now had, she couldn't bear to part with; Charlie had kept his blue one as well, with repairs from where the chopper blades from Steve's helicopter had taken the paint off the sides and smashed the window. Handsome Rob, who had many different cars, teased them about keeping the old mini's, but they all knew that he had the white one at the back of his garage, kept in immaculate condition. When she had got into the mini cooper that morning though, she found a red rose on the passanger seat, even though going to the office had been a spontaenous decision.

She wouldn't be home in time for when the kids got back, they would have been back over half an hour ago if they walked, and quicker seeing as they had rode their bikes that morning. Charlie had been sneaking around that morning whilst the kids were getting ready. Usually he would sit at the table with them and talk to them while they were eating their breakfast, but he had disappeared into various places, making phone calls to the other guys; particularly Handsome Rob. She couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about because every time she got close he ended the conversation. In the end, she had given up, and instead of chasing him around the house all day, she decided to spend the morning at the office, even though she had spent a lot more time then she had intended to.

Pulling into the driveway, she saw that the kids bikes weren't left outside the house as they would have been. Thinking they had taken them around the back, she shrugged as she got out of the car, locking it automatically over her shoulder. She let herself into the house, calling out as she stood in the doorway for a moment, before shutting it behind her.

"Holly? Alex?" No answer. "Boys?" Still no answer. Usually, their house, though large, was full of the playful arguments and laughter of children - exactly how Charlie had wanted it to be when they had brought it. But today, it was empty, and silent. "Guys? Is anyone here?" She called again, hanging her jacket on the hanger beside the door, so she was stood in her black trousers and white shirt. Her boots made an echoing sound against the wooden floor as she moved to go further into the house. "Charlie?" Still no answer.

She went into the kitchen, to get a drink and found that the kitchen was empty. Pouring herself a glass of filtered water, she went into the living room, and having placed the glass of water on the coffee table beside the couch, she flopped down on her stomach, burying her face in the pillow. Her day had been more stressful that she wanted to say, and would like nothing better than to - have her back massaged?

She was suddenly aware of gentle hands exerting a comforting pressure on her upper back and shoulders. She felt her tension ebbing away with every touch, and though she didn't move her body, she pulled her face out of the pillow and rested her cheek on it instead. She smiled up at Charlie, whom she hadn't even known was in the room, and was not sitting on the edge of the couch, dressed finely in black pants and a red shirt , and massaging her back and shoulders. "Hey," She whispered.

"I was wondering when you'd get in." He thought aloud, continuing the massage.

"So was I, some guy stayed on the phone for 2 hours about an uncrackable safe." She complained. When Charlie hit a particularly sensitive spot on her shoulder she closed her eyes and sighed. "But I don't seem to care any more." She said with content smile. "Where are the kids?" She asked.

"All of them are staying at Handsome's tonight. Something about bringing out an old karaoke machine for them to play around with." Charlie replied distractedly.

"Fantastic." She whispered, welcoming a night to themselves.

Charlie leaned down and kissed the part of her neck which wasn't covered by her shirt. "I love you, you know that?" He whispered in her ear, his lips grazing against her earlobe.

"I love you too." She replied heartfelt.

Charlie's hands stopped on her shoulders, and his thumbs were left rubbing small circles which she could faintly feel through her shirt. "Good." He whispered. "Now, do you want your suprise?" He asked playfully.

"Yes." She replied with a small laugh. "Finally."

"Ok, well, go upstairs, have a bath, get changed, because I'm taking you out." Charlie instructed.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"It's a suprise." He told her with his trademark cheeky grin. She resisted the temptation to swipe at him playfully for saying that again. He definately had a way with the suspence.

She stood up and went upstairs and went to their bedroom. When she got into the bedroom, the doors to the balcony were open, sweeping a cold breeze through the room. The floor was littered with red rose petals, leading in two paths, the first to the bathroom, and the other to the bed, where a small package was wrapped upon it. She went over to the bed first, curious as to what the package held. Opening it, and discarding the wrapping and ribbon, she saw some folded silk material with a small note upon it. Lifting the note and reading it she smiled.

_To the woman I love,_

_You look wonderful no matter what you wear, but I know that you will look beautiful in this._

_Charlie,_

_xx_

Placing the note beside her on the bed, she pulled the material and let it hand before her. She found herself looking at a beautiful red silk dress with halterneck straps and a low backline. It didn't dip too low on the chest, but wasn't too high either, and she was speechless when she looked at it, only being able to mutter, "Oh, Charlie," When she looked at it. This explained why he had disappeared for an hour yesterday.

Laying it out on the bed so that it wouldn't get creased, Stella followed the second trail of rosepetals into the bathroom. He had pulled the blind down over the window, blocking all the light that was coming in, and the room was filled with soft candlelight from about twenty candles around the room. The bath had already been filled, and she could see small tendrils of steam from where it had been freshly drawn, complete with more rose petals floating on the surface. She smiled and undressed, getting into the bath and washing her hair. A while later, when she felt completely relaxed and the water was getting colder, she got out of the bath. Wrapping a towel around herself, she went back into the bedroom, and dried her hair off before changing into the gorgeous silk dress. Naturally, she had a pair of shoes that matched it, and put the spaghetti strap heels on with them. She chose to wear the sparkling diamond necklace that her father had had delivered to her the day he died, directly from Venice, and a pair of closely matching earrings which hung and dangled in the breeze. She didn't put on too much make-up, she never did, nor did she need to. She wore only mascara and a light shine of lip gloss which added colour to her soft lips. Running her fingers through her hair one last time, she went downstairs once again, and saw Charlie standing at the bottom of the stairs by the door waiting for her.

He turned when he heard the sound of her heels on the staircase, and his jaw nearly hit the ground. He had known straight away that the dress was perfect for her, but even as beautiful as it had been on the hanger, it was nothing in comparison to how it looked when Stella was wearing it. He watched her all the way down the staircase and when she reached the bottom of the stairs, he put an arm around her waist and dragged her closer to him and kissed her. He had to contain his urges to make sure that he got through the evening.

"Car's here." Her told her, and led her through the front door. Stella's eyes widened as they stepped outside. Beside their parked mini-coopers was a black limosine.

"Charlie-" She began awefully, but he cut her off with a short kiss.

"Only the best for you." He said cheekily.

The chaufeer opened the door for them and Charlie whispered a few words of direction for him before he got into the car himself. Settling in beside Stella, he put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him, their free hands interlocking over the laps. "You've really gone all out on this, haven't you?" She asked with a grin, and he nodded.

"Because I love you." He told her, "And today is a special occassion." Seeing her face panick slightly as if she had forgotten something but couldn't remember what. "It was twenty-five years ago to this day that your Dad first introduced us." He said.

Stella smiled, Charlie always remembered the things that most men didn't; anniversarys, birthdays, but also strange but romantic milestones like this one.

After a while of reminicing what had happened the day they met, they pulled up near a resturant on a boardwalk, overlooking a beach. They had their dinner at an Italian resturant whilst they watched the sunset, and they spent the whole evening remembering what their relationship had been like in the early days, but were unable to find more than a few ways in which it had changed rather than the presence of Alex and Holly. It made Stella realise how lucky she was to have Charlie with her still. After their meal, Charlie and Stella stood on the boardwalk for a while, overlooking the waves lapping against the shore.

"Come on." Charlie said playfully, and pulled her down the steps next to them by the hand and led her onto the beach.

* * *

"Here you go kids, karaoke." Handsome said as he put the large cardboard box on the floor. Taking the karaoke machine out of it, he began to set up the wires behind the plasma screen television. The boys looked at it as they would in a museum.

"Dad, how old is this?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Um," Handsome hesistated. "A few years."

"A few?" Alex repeated.

"Ok, smartass, more than a few." Rob said. Smartass was his nickname for Alex like Princess was for Holly. All of the men called Holly Princess, but only Rob called Alex smartass.

"Looks stone age." Nick continued.

"So does this music." Michael said, looking at the various CD's which he had brought down with it. They were the special karaoke discs which would display the lyrics on the TV. "Guns n Roses? Aerosmith?"

"Bon Jovi!" Alex said, rather excidedly. "This stuff is gold!" Handsome Rob sighed. Alex had the same taste in music that Charlie had, loving all of the 'big hair rock'.

After connecting up the wires and having successfully brought it up on the screen he stood up, handing out the two microphones that came with it to the twins.

"Aren't you having a go, Uncle Rob?" Holly asked.

Handsome laughed and ruffled her hair. "Aw, ain't you sweet." He said playfully. "Maybe when I'm drunk, Princess." He told her. "Very drunk."

"Half an hour?" She asked him, the boys all laughed.

"Maybe." He replied, walking off, but they all heard the muttered "More than likely" under his breath as he walked away.

* * *

Out on the beach, Charlie and Stella walked hand in hand along the beach before wandering so far from the restaurant and the boardwalk that the beach was no longer lit by the light of the halogens, but rather the starlight and the light of the full moon instead. Stella had taken off her shoes and was walking barefoot through the sand, enjoying the feeling of it between her toes. It was about 10pm now, and the beach was empty except for them. There was a slight chill in the breeze now, and Charlie had taken off his leather jacket and hung it around her shoulders and bare arms, revealing his red shirt. As they walked, they had their arms around each others waists, wanting to be as close as possible. After a while, they sat down on a sand dune above the water, and Stella sat between Charlie's legs, leaning back against his chest.

"This has been wonderful, Charlie." She told him, her head falling back against his shoulder. "Thank you."

"See, I told you you'd like my suprise." Charlie reminded her, and she grinned.

"Yeah, you did."

She looked up at the sky, and where the clouds were completely gone, she could see millions of stars above them. She knew that Charlie was doing the same thing, and he wrapped on arm around her waist, trailing his fingers over the silk that covered her stomach, and used his other arm to hold them up. As they were gazing up at the stars, she saw a shooting star streak across a small patch of the inky-blue sky. "Wow." She whispered breathlessly. "Did you see that?" She asked him.

"Sure did." He replied.

"I've never seen one before." She admitted. "Dad used to take me onto the roof of our apartment, try and show them to me, but I'd always look away just before they came, and I missed them all the time." She remembered.

"Never?" He asked, and she shook her head lightly. The next time Charlie spoke to her, he get no answer, and looking down, he found Stella asleep in his arms.

* * *

It was late now, and the kids had gone through most of the discs for the karaoke. Handsome Rob had sat in the kitchen, listening to them, it was rather amusing when they had put a song on, knowing some of it, but then got to a bit that they didn't know and had trailed off into a mumble with some kind of slurred swearing, for Alex, anyway. He only knew that it was swearing because he heard Holly exclaim "Alex!" Everytime he did it, followed by a mumbled "Sorry." When it all went silent for a while, he went into the living room to see what had stopped them. Even though they had decided that they were all going to camp in the living room with their sleeping bags and blankets, the blankets were all still in a pile behind the couch, and all the kids were alseep on the two couches.

At the same time as he entered through the kitchen door, Rob's girlfriend and the twin's mother, Kelly, came in through the door from the hallway. "I told them they wouldn't make it all night." She said as Rob turned off the TV and she picked up some blankets, laying them over Nathan, Alex and Damon. Rob picked up the others, and took them over to the other couch, where Holly, Nick and Michael were asleep.

"Would you look at that." Rob said, glancing down at Holly and Michael. Kelly came over beside him and put her arms around his waist from behind. Holly had her head on Michael's shoulder where she had fallen asleep over an hour ago according to Rob's guessing from the fact that that was how long she hadn't sung for. Michael looked more comfortable in the position, guessing that he had fallen asleep after her.

"Aw, it's so sweet." Kelly said, and Rob raised his eye brows.

"Sweet?" He asked. "What kind of a word is sweet?"

Kelly kissed him. "My word." She replied. "Come on. Let's go to bed."


	11. Caught In A Moment

**HockeyGurlRox: Wow, I have a Michael/Holly fan already and they've barely done anything :D I'm glad you like Kelly and Rob as well, Rob is a fantastic man and definately deserves someone, shame it can't be one of us, but still.Trust me, lots of stuff will come out when they start working on the play, yes Holly does have a small attraction to the Phantom, but Alex and her 'brothers' will soon sort that out.I'm especially happy that you liked the Stella and Charlie bit, it took me like 4 hours to write in the morning so I'm really happy with it. **

**Darkdestiney2000: I'm definately going to go ahead with the story of Stella and John, but it will probably be the longest one I've ever done because I'm going to do it from the age of about 3 until John dies or until the end of the heist, so it'll be pretty long. Hm...Shaving cream...now thats an idea writes that down and puts it somewhere safe whilst cackling evilly hehe, thanks for that, you just might see it. Oh yes, I have a strange liking for Charlie in his red shirt, leather jacket and cheeky grin (I want it so much in a frame on my wall). I think Rob definately looks best when he's doing his freeway chase to set the record :D Also, I read your profile recently, and very much liked the quote with Jeb and Whitney in a theater talking about porno for three year olds, that made me laugh for about 10 minutes. **

**I was doing some research the other day on the Italian Job sequal, a.k.a The Brazillian Job, and found out a lot, including that during driving in the first film, Marky boy threw up and Charlize had a right dig at him.It's being shot in Rio de Janeiro, and has the same Director, but a new writer! David Twohy! He wrote Chronicals of Riddick and Pitch Black, which I haven't seen but my brother says are amazingly written. As far as I know, Ed Norton isn't going to be involved, but Wahlberg, Theron, Statham, Def and Green are definately up for the ride :D Also, I heard something somewhere about Stella going under a car! I know, it sounded crazy to me, but it was something my cousin told me. She doesn't seem like that sort of person to do something silly like get hit by a car on a job, but hey, I can work that to my advantage maybe. It probably isn't true anyway becauase she hates Stella and Charlize Theron. Don't see why, personally, she's a terrific actress, and a big inspiration to me. **

**For my other Italian Job fics, there's a new chappie up on Hold Onto Her Forever, which was originally titled The Proposal but changed because I continued it. And I hate to ask, but could somebody please review Woman in my Arms, I know it's a Charlie/Stella and sometimes people prefer Rob/OC, but I'd really like to know what people think because it's an adaption from an email I got. Thank you, HockeyGurl, for reviewing both of these, your comments really help, thank you.**

**Anyway, I think I've blabbed on enough, Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it, it has Rob topless followed by Charlie topless. :D This shows a lot into Stella's past in this chapter, and I've included Rob in it as a savior kind of thing.**

**Sam**

**xx**

In the kichten the following morning, Rob came downstairs in just a pair of cotton sleep pants, making Kelly smile at the sight of her boyfriend's perfectly formed chest. He helped her make some breakfast, seeing as she was making enough of a fry up to have to feed them and the six children. It took half an hour to prepare and figure out what each of the kids wanted, which in the end Rob gave up on memorising and wrote down like some kid of waiter (and a topelss waiter at that). When he took their breakfast into them, he found them all awake and watching Nick and Nathan play two player on the PlayStation console. They seemed to have taken sides and started cheering, all except Holly, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the couch. Having taken in the last two plates, giving them to Alex and Nathan, almost drooling from the smell of fried bacon, he ruffled her hair as he walked beside her. She jumped when he did, as she had been staring so blankly at the television screen she had barely noticed him walking in front of her.

"Here," He said, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing." She whispered.

"Come on girl, I know you better than that." He said with a smile, and sat down beside her on the edge of the chair. They boys were now so involved in what the twins had put on the television that they didn't hear Holly and Rob's soft conversation.

"I was just thinking." She said, giving him a reassuring smile like Stella did when she was trying to convince them that she was fine. And, alike Stella's, he saw right through it in the same way he did to hers: the smile never reached her eyes.

He leaned closer to her. "If you want to talk to me about it, you know you can." He assured her.

She nodded. "Yes, thank you." She said, but then glanced over at the boys.

"It's all right, I have an idea." Rob said, understanding that she didn't want the boys to know. She smiled at him as she winked.

Nothing more was said between them, except the occassional laugh on the television programme, until they had finished their breakfast. Nathan and Nick gathered up the plates like Rob had told them too, and took them into the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher. Luckily, for once, the clumbsier of the two, Nick, had not dropped anything, or smashed anything, or thrown anything, which Rob thought was an acheivement. They went back to their game for a while, and were once again engrossed. This time, they put in the multitap and started playing 4 player, leaving Michael to take the place of the loser of that race in the next one.

During this time, Rob and Holly went into the garden. They sat down on the wall that lined Kelly's rose beds, and Holly put her hands on either side of her. Rob sat sidewards. "What is it?" He asked.

She was quiet for a few minutes, trying to figure out her wording and finally settled on. "Uncle Rob, who's Steve?"

* * *

Stella awoke the next morning back at home with Charlie. After being on the beach for most of the evening, and she had fallen asleep for about an hour, they had finally got home at 2am. She had a wonderful evening, and felt extremely refreshed after the stress of work the previous day. She had to admit, Charlie really knew how to make her feel loved. She curled closer to him, her head resting on his bare chest, and his arms tightened around her, signalling that he was now awake like her.

"Good morning." She whispered huskily, her voice still thick with sleep.

"I love you." He replied and kissed the top of her blonde hair.

"Charlie Croker, you are a hopeless romantic." She declared.

"It's your fault." He retorted. "I wouldn't be if it weren't for you."

"Well, I hope it stays that way." She told him. "Because I rather enjoy all of this." Smiling, she propped herself up on one arm so she could look at him.

"As long as we're together." He promised her. "Which will be forever."

* * *

Rob sighed. Steve, well, where did he begin. Holly knew that their money had come from gold, but, as she was so young when Steve appeared again, they hadn't told her the full story as they had the boys. She knew that John had been killed by another man, but she didn't know about Steve, so what was making her ask? He knew that Charlie wouldn't exactly be happy about Holly knowing, but she had asked, so he had to tell her. Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe she had just overheard the boys talking? But why would they be talking about Steve now?

"Steve..."Rob began, but then backtracked. "You remember how we got all out money?" He told her.

"From the Gold."

"Yeah, well, it was Steve's gold. Well, it wasn't, it was ours." He sighed. "I'm not explaining this very well am I?"

"No." Holly agreed. "But I'm having fun watching you try."

"Ok, I'll start at the beginning." He told her, and she moved so she was sitting sideways on the wall, listening intently to his every word. "Your Dad had been a theif all his life, and he was brought into our crowd by a man called John Bridger."

"Grandad?" She asked.

"Yes. John taught him how to plan his thefts, and soon they had come up with a heist large enough to make them both rich enough to last a lifetime." He smirked. "Trouble was, they needed help. So that's where Me, Left-ear, Lyle and Steve came in. He found us, and we helped him, but something went wrong, John had already been in prison for different thefts; mainly small scale ones, but whenever he went inside, his daughter-"

"Mom?"

"Yeah. She had to go stay with her mother. Problem was, she didn't really get on with her mother."

"I know this part." Holly told him. "Her Mom wanted to get rid of her when she was born but Grandad kept her, so her Mom hated her."

"Who's telling this story?" Rob said with a laugh.

"You are, carry on."

"Right, well usually it was only for a few months, but once, John went inside for five years. He was let out after 3, though, for good behaviour, which was probably a matter of life or death in the end." Rob explained.

"Why?"

"Your Mom was ten years old when he went away, and she had to go stay with her Mom again. She wasn't happy about it, I was sixteen then, and I was there the day when she said her goodbye to John, who was like a father to me as well. She only remembered it was me when I told her. I used to baby sit her believe it or not." Holly's eyes widened in mock shock and Rob laughed. "After only a year, she ran away. She went to stay with her Dad's father, who hated her Mom as much as John did."

"Why did she run away?" Holly asked, almost not wanting to know.

"Because her Mom used to hit her, and one day, Stella was hit by a car. Her Mom told the hospital that she was playing in the road, and that she told her not to go out, but no one was there to say a word against her. The driver disappeared, and John was allowed a day out to visit her in hospital, but she never saw him, because she was flat out of it all day. I don't know who he believed, but all I know is as soon as your Mom was able to, she climbed out of her bedroom window and went straight to her Grandfathers house." Holly was now listening silently, no longer asking questions. "The same day John was let out, it was the day after her thirteenth birthday, and she had been to visit her the day before, and he had told her he was coming out, and she was so excited. Then her Mom turned up. Tried to take her to England with her, but I was now nineteen, and had picked John up from Prison and had taken him to pick Stella up. When we got there, her Mom was dragging her down the stairs by her hair. Her grandfather was at the shops. But she had opened the front door thinking it had been him, so we found out later. She finally went, and John and Stella never saw her again. While she was dragging her down the stairs though, Stella slipped, and John's first three days out of prison were spent in hospital with your Mom."

Horrified, but wanting him to continue, Holly gulped. "Where does Steve come into this?" She asked.

"While John was inside, he started to plan the heist that led him to your Dad, and eventually to us. Steve had been the son of one of John's friends, so he already knew him pretty well. But when Stella was sixteen, she asked John to give it up, not wanting him to be inside prison again. He promised her he was through, and gave it up, leaving a fully capable Charlie in his place. Four years passed, and me and Charlie went to see John at work, at what is now your Mom's shop, to tell him the gold had been moved and we needed his help to find it again. John agreed, but he told us he wasn't going to be involved in the lifting, because he had promised Stella. This was when your Mom and Dad first met, and I could see from that first time she walked out of her Dad's office with a wrench in her hand that your Dad had fallen for her. We managed to trace the gold to Venice - in Italy."

"I know where Venice is Uncle Rob."

"Anyway, it took a further six years to plan how we were going to get into the place and override the security and such, but eventually we did it, and John was so thrilled at the idea of us getting so far, that Charlie convinced him to join us in the lifting."

"I bet Mom didn't like that." Holly said with a small choked laugh.

"John rang her on the morning of the heist. He had sent her a necklace from a department store, but she was upset that he was going back on his word to her. He promised that he was through, and he told her that that was his last job. What made things worse was that she knew that Charlie was right there with him, he always was."

"Sounds like Dad."

"We got the gold, and were celebrating in the mountains, we even got as far as to plan our shopping lists. Left-ear wanted his house in Spain - "

"With a room for his shoes." Holly and Rob said together. She had heard that part of the story thousands of times.

"Lyle wanted his stereo." Rob continued. "I only had one thing on my mind, the Aston Martin Vanquish. Steve said he was going to take one each of ours. John was going to share his with Stella, get her whatever she wanted, but she never really went for all the expensive things. Charlie, well, we never really found out what your Dad was going to spend his money on. We were double crossed though. Didn't make it out of the country with the gold."

"Steve?" Holly guessed.

"That's right. He tookt he gold for himself, and when John tried to stop him, he shot him."

Holly looked away for a moment. She hadn't known it had been that way. She wanted to believe that it was an accident that killed her grandfather before she had a chance to meet him, but now she couldn't. There was a sad expression on Rob's face as well.

"Somehow, the rest of us managed to stay alive, but it was your dad who pulled his body from the icy water and sat there for an hour, not ashamed to cry. Just seeing his face was enough to make you feel bad. Your Dad was always the youngest of us at heart, but in reality it was Lyle. But he looked like a kid when he was holding John's body. The first thing he said when he stopped crying, was your Mom's name. He felt guilty, because it had been him that pulled John out for one last job, and he had died because of it. All the way home he kept on saying that he felt like had killed him himself. You see," Rob explained, "Unlike the rest of us, your Dad had never known any death. We had all lost parents, friends, but your Dad never had, or at least, he'd never seen it. So the loss of John made him feel responsible."

"It was him that told Mom, wasn't it?" Holly said, understanding. "She told him that she never wanted to see him again."

"And for a year, she didn't. Until he turned up at her shop telling that he'd found Steve. Me and Charlie worked for a year to track him down, and finally found him in L.A, in Hollywood. She said she didn't want anything to do with it, but later on she rang Charlie and said she was in, for revenge. She never wanted the gold. She only wanted to see the look on his face when he knew that we had it."

"Sounds like Mom." Holly smiled.

"He thought we were all dead, except for Stella, who we sent undercover as a cable-repair girl to get inside footage of his house. It worked, and he even asked her for a date. Of course, she hated him, and although she wouldn't admit it, she was scared. We planned to go in whilst he was out, and the idea was that we'd be halfway out of the state by the time he figured out she'd stood him up, but his neighbour was throwing a party, and we couldn't do it, so she had to go through with the date. He figured out who she was, and when he appeared, he provoked her by saying that John begged for his life. We took her out of there, but Charlie stayed, came back a few minutes later having punched Steve in the face. I don't know what else happened that night, but something got Stella more determined, and eventually, we got the gold in the back of three mini-coopers, and got it out of there."

"What happened to Steve?"

"The cousin of a man he killed took him to where he worked to punish him, but some how, he got away. We didn't know it, but he was watching us. We all got settled down, had you kids, and all the while, he was watching us to the point that he knew your names." Rob admitted. "The twins were six at the time, which made you three, when he came. We were all in your garden, and the boys were playing in the tree. You were asleep with your Mom, and we were cooking." Rob was suprised at how much it only seemed like last week. "The boys started screaming, we went after them, and sent you and your Mom inside, just incase. The boys were being chased up the tree by Steve's new henchmen, but we managed to get them safe and unharmed. What we didn't know, was that Steve was in the house."

"I was asleep." Holly repeated. "Steve was there."

"How-" Rob began confused.

"He said I was beautiful, Mom didn't say anything." Her face was distant, and she was no longer looking at him. "She asked him how he got in. He said he got past the security, he pulled a gun out." Rob was watching her with an astonded but worried face. "He said he wouldn't hurt me, but he would hurt Mom. She wanted Dad there. Steve said he wanted me, Mom and Alex. Dad was angry. Really angry. I woke up. We went into the kitchen, but I couldn't see over the boy's heads. He called me Princess, and Dad hit him really hard. Steve said whatever Dad did to him he'd do to us. Dad took the gun, Mom made us sit on the floor so we wouldn't see., but he couldn't do it, could he?" Holly asked, snapping out of her trance like state. "He wanted to, but he couldn't. So you took him."

Rob could only nod, amazed that she could recall it better than he could. Amazingly though, she could recall what happened when she was asleep, but he wasn't sure if all that was true, he's have to ask Stella, which she wouldn't be happy about reliving.

"Dad said he'd never let anything happen to me, and all the boys said they'd look after me as well." She smiled a little. "They were right, they have done. Twins called Lyle a wuss because he couldn't have climbed as high up the tree as they did."

Now it was Rob's turn to laugh. "Sounds about right." He turned serious again. "Anyway, why do you want to know about Steve?"

"There was a man at school talking to the visiting talent scout yesterday, and I recognised him. I was walking past with the boys on our way back here, but he definately looked as us. I was the only one that saw him do it, but he stared and watched us walking past until we were gone. I thought for ages on the way home about where I knew him from, but last night, everything I just remembered, I dreamed." She told him. "It's sounds silly, I know. But I was standing there, not me, but watching me." She told him. "I think Steve's come back to do what he said he'd do."


	12. Falling Through The Sky

**I'm sorry for the wait again for this one. This week I might not have a chance to get another chapter in. There's a possibility of tomorrow afternoon, but for the rest of the week I won't have a chance, particularly as Thursday (which is usually my serious updating day) I have 3 friends round from early in the morning and staying over etc. There's also a chance I may have to work Friday afternoon, and possibly wednesday, as well as the usual Saturday, which would lead me back round to my usuals next week.**

**Football Gurl Chick: Yes! He's back! The Transporter is an excellent film, and once I've finished all my fics I've got lined up I'm going to start on one for it. I can assure you, I will be the first in like to see the sequal, as I will with the sequal for the Italian Job, Underworld, and National Treasure. Jason is suck an ass-kicking person. Have you seen Snatch? If you have and you liked it, I've recently posted up a Snatch fic with hasn't had any reads yet, and I'm anxious to know what people think. It's called Kailey of the Casino. **

**Darkdestiney2000: Well, the PJ's or the lack of them? Lol. Seeing as I got a good response to that, Handsome Rob will be handsomely shirtless a lot more. It was the actor that got sick during the driving school lol, it really made me laugh, I found a clip of it on Starpulse when they all got out of their cars, Mark covered in puke, Jason trying not to laugh and Charlize practically rolling on the floor. **

**Unfortunately, I haven't actually seen the Phantom of the Opera yet, as I borrowed my cousin's DVD of it, and hadn't got a chance to watch it before they took it back, so I need to find a way to wrangle that back from them (maybe an Italian Job style heist is in order. Quick to the mini coopers!) but I have the 2-disc special edition soundtrack. So I will be doing what I can for that as well as getting hold of the film and watching it, taking serious notes. I found the script on the internet but my cousin assures me it isn't the right one, becuase he can virtually sing the whole film to me, and he's only 8. It's incredible. He wants to sing it on stage. Anyhoo. Has anyone watched the deleted scenes on the Italian Job DVD? I love the one of Stella in the resturant with Mr Zipper and Charlie.  
****  
Stella: I can't believe you actually paid someone twenty dollars to spill that drink!  
Charlie: Actually, you did (hands back her walled) Didn't recognise who bumped into you earlier, did you?**

And another fantastic line from that scene is:

Charlie: I'm sorry, I was just undressing you with my eyes.

I laughed out loud and my dad thought I was insane.  
Anyway, back to the chapter:

**Sam  
xx**

Later that morning, Charlie and Stella set out to Rob's house to collect the kids. It was about a ten minute drive to Rob's, but it was one that they knew like the back of their hands now. Both of them had been smiling all morning, having thoroughly enjoyed the night before, and were still smiling now. They had almost reached Rob's house when Charlie's cellphone rang. As he was driving, he handed it to Stella, who answered it.

"Hello?" She answered cheerfully.

"Charlie, you're sounding very female today." A sly voice teased.

"Hi Rob." Stella said with a sarcastic smile. "We're just on our way over." She told him.

"Good. Kel's taken the kids to see a film, but I need you two over here now." He told them. Stella frowned.

"Why what's up?" She asked worriedly. Charlie took his eyes off the empty road for a second and looked at her with the same expression hearing her tone of voice, before looking back to the road.

"I'll explain when you get here." Rob told them. "Holly told me something that freaked her out at school yesterday." He said simply,

"Is she all right?" Stella asked instinctively. Charlie looked around again, worrying that something had happened to Holly.

"She's fine." He assured her, and Stella nodded to Charlie who let out a small sigh of assurance and looked back at the road again. "Lyle and Left got here just before the kids left, and their two girls have gone with Kelly and the kids."

"We'll be there in a second." Stella said, and they both hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Charlie asked. "Is something wrong with Holly?" Charlie was sometimes an over-protective father, but from past experiences, he had every right to be.

Stella shook her head. "No. She's fine. Rob said that something freaked her out at school yesterday. Lyle and Left-ear are there as well." She explained. "The girls have taken them into town for the afternoon." She was silent for a second. "What could have possible freaked her out enough to spark a conversation between all of us?" She asked.

One thing popped straight into Charlie's head but he forced it away. He didn't want to think of the possibility of that happening; he never wanted to think of it. "I've got an idea." He said, slightly sadly, but also determined as they pulled into the driveway. "But I sure as hell hope I'm wrong."

* * *

They went straight into the living room, where they were all seated on the couches. Stella sat down on the edge beside Lyle, facing Rob, and Charlie sat on the arm of the couch, directly beside Stella. Rob stood up and handed them both a mug of coffee each, indicating that this would be a long talk.

"I see you two have had a good night." Left-ear said smiling, "Considering your phone have been switched off until half an hour ago."

Both of them blushed and tried to say something, but no words came out. Lyle laughed at this but Rob made no show of emotion. Charlie frowned.

"Handsome?" He asked. "What happened?"

Rob took a deep breath. "Where do I start?" He said with a smirk.

"How about at the beginning." Lyle suggested. "That's normally a good start."

"Right." He said, as Stella started drinking the coffee. "Well, when the kids came in yesterday, everything was fine. Holly was a little quiet, but she was smiling and having fun with the boys all night, as usual, but in the morning, she asked me about Steve."

The reaction was nothing short of shocking. Stella gagged on her coffee, emitting several choking coughs. Lyle, who was holding his cell phone in his hand, dropped it on the floor and the back casing fell off. Left-ear sat speechless. Charlie, however, tried his best to maintain his usual cool, having suspected it. He patted Stella on the back until her choking ceased. Stella was first to speak afterwards.

"How did Holly know about Steve?" She asked desperately, as flashbacks of that day when he broke into the house hit her repeatedly. "She was three, how did she know?"

"She dreamt it, last night." Rob explained. "She asked me this morning what happened, but she said she didn't know whether all the dream was true. I could tell her for some parts, like how Steve said that whatever Charlie did to him he would do to Stella and the kids, and that Charlie wasn't able to shoot him." Charlie looked away from the others, focusing shamefully on a suddenly interesting point of the floor. "But she said some things that only Stella would know."

"What did she say?" Lyle asked, seeing as after a few seconds no one else had asked and Rob hadn't continued.

"She had this really distant look on her face. But, luckily we were sitting right under the security camera, which recorded everything."

Rob stood up, and turned the television on. Whilst he was standing, Stella leaned against Charlie's side for support, and he looked down, seeing that she was in obvious discomfort, and took her hand in his, gripping it tightly, and silently assuring her that it was all right. Using the remote, Rob turned to a camera recording. They could all see Rob and Holly sitting together, facing sideways from the camera, and they were talking. Charlie and Stella watched with the most curiosity, but also the most dread. Rob was talking first, and the extract started mid-sentance.

_"-boys were playing in the tree. You were asleep with your Mom, and we were cooking. The boys started screaming, we went after them, and sent you and your Mom inside, just incase. The boys were being chased up the tree by Steve's new henchment, but we managed to get to them safe and unharmed. What we didn't know, was that Steve was in the house."_

The cameras that Rob had installed for his security were excellent, and easily picked up on the expression on Holly's face when she started speaking. It was almost prophetic.

_"I was asleep. Steve was there."_

_"How-?"_

_"He said I was beautiful. Mom didn't say anything. She asked him how he got in. He said he got past the security, he pulled a gun out. He said he wouldn't hurt me, but he would hurt Mom. She wanted Dad there. Steve said he wanted me Mom and Alex. Dad was angry, really angry. I woke up. We went into the kitchen, but I couldn't see over the boy's heads. He called me Princess, and Dad hit him really hard. Steve said that whatever Dad did to him he'd to to us. Dad took the gun, Mom made us sit on the floor so we wouldn't see, but he couldn't do it, could he? He wanted to, but he couldn't. So you took him. Dad said he'd never let anything happen to me, and all the boys said they'd look after me as well. They were right, they have done. Twins called Lyle a wuss becuase he couldn't have climbed as high up the tree as they did."_

_"Sounds about right. Anyway, why do you want to know about Steve?"_

_"There was a man at school talking to the visiting talent scout yesterday, and I recognised him. I was walking past with the boys on our way back here, but he definately looked at us. I was the only one that saw him do it, but he stared and watched us walking past until we were gone. I thought for aged on the way home about where I knew him from, but last night, everything I just remembered, I dreamed. It sounds silly, I know. But I was standing there, not me, but watching me. I think Steve's come back to do what he said he's do."_

Rob stopped the tape, and there was silence in the room. Stella was panicking like mad. She had gone white pale, and was holding Charlie's hand so tightly that her knuckles were the same colour. Where as previously she was leaning against Charlie for support, she was now trying not to have a panic attack. Charlie was staring at the television blankly, trying not to believe what he had heard. Left-ear, who was probably the most level headed of them at the moment, took Stella and Charlie's coffee's setting them on the table before either of them dropped Kelly's favourite mugs. Stella released Charlie's hand and buried her face in her own, shutting everyone out and forcing herself to take deep, calming breaths. Charlie put one arm around her shoulder, and the other to rub her back comfortingly.

"He can't." Stella said into her hands. "He just can't."

"Stella-"

"No!" She cried out, and then fell back into her hands and against Charlie.

"Stella," Rob began, "I know that this is hard, but what happened when it was just you Holly and Steve?"

Stella lifted her head, and revealed her tear-stained cheeks. "Don't make me." She whispered.

"Make you what, Stella?" Charlie asked.

"Don't make me remember it."

Obviously she had been more shaken by Steve's visit than she had let on originally. Charlie was still rubbing her back, knowing that it was bringing her some comfort, if only that.

"Stella," Handsome said, "If you tell us, then we will know if all of this is really happening."

Stella was silent again, and stared into space for a moment. Reluctantly, she remembered everything that happened that day. The scene of the kids jumping on their fathers; the boys running towards the back of the garden, laughing together loudly; Holly sleeping on her lap; then, Alex and the others screaming, a scream that had woken her in the night for weeks after it had happened; Charlie sending her inside with Holly; watching Holly sleeping, and then, his voice, his horrible taunting voice; The words he spoke to her, and the worst part of all, the gun that was aimed at her and her sleeping child. Suprisingly, she remembered every word he had said to her, every cruel tease. She didn't feel like she was in the room anymore, she felt like she was back in the living room, staring Steve in the face. She could almost imagine the weight of Holly in her arms. She knew that the men were watching her, particularly Charlie, but that didn't stop the shudder of unfamiliar fear run down her spine as she reached out for her husband's hand again.

"She was right." She whispered. None of them said anything. "Every word. She was right. That's what happened." None of them could see it, but Charlie could feel her shaking as he held her hand. He had never seen her so scared, and as scary as it was for him as well, he was trying his best to hide it, if only to reassure her, and eventually, Holly and Alex.

"But how could he use a talent scout for it?" Left-ear asked. "That isn't Steve's style."

"This isn't about style, Left, it's about revenge." Rob told them.

"Revenge on me." Charlie admitted.

"Besides, he isn't a real talent scout." Lyle told them.

"Huh?" Rob said.

"Mike and me looked up his name and the acting school on the net. His name wasn't mentioned, and the school itself was shut down in 1999, it's been relocated to London." He continued.

"So he's working for Steve?" Left-ear commented.

"And he's looking for someone to have a contract with the school when they're old enough." Lyle confirmed.

"A perfect way to get her."

Stella had her head resting against Charlie's lap, silent tears still welling in her eyes, occassionally slipping down her cheek and dripping onto Charlie's pants, not that he minded. She was only half listening to what they were saying, still racked with panful memories of that day. She could hear his voice over and over again in her head, as clear as if he were standing right beside her.

_"She's beautiful isn't she? Of course, she's nothing compared to her mother. But she'll grow up just at nicely. Her name's Holly isn't it?"_

_"Just like old times. Except last time, it was was your father. Oh come on Stella, you have to get over it, forgive and forget. He's gone, there's nothing for it. Don't worry, I won't hurt her. Im not that inhuman, but I wouldn't hesitate for a second to let you join dear old John."_

_"It's all about the element of suprise, Stella. Even if I had to wait nine years to get that suprise, it's worth it. Do you know why? Because I want to see the look on Charlie's face when he knows that I've got his kids and girlfriend."_

"He's not going to hurt her." Stella said, stopping Rob mid-sentance. "He won't hurt her."

"Stella-"

"No, when he was in the house, he said that he wouldn't hurt her, that he wasn't that inhuman, but that he wouldn't hesitate in hurting me. Or, as he put it, letting me join my Dad." She informed them. She avoided Charlie's eyes, knowing that he was looking at her with confusion. She had told him what had happened, but she hadn't told him what he had said, especially that he wouldn't hesistate in killing her. There was a small silence between them and eventually, Charlie took up the reigns again.

"Right, here's the plan. We tell them that Steve's back." He got a few exasperated stared but continued otherwise. "Alex and Damon are oldest, we'll tell them to keep an eye on the others, especially Michael and Holly, because they're in the play." There were understanding nods. "Obviously, he's watching the rehersals with this other guy, so we'll get the other boys in there as well. They snuck into the auditions, this will be no problem for them. That way, they can tell us everything that's going on, and if they can, as much as I hate the idea of them being within a hundred miles of him, find out what he's up to."

"Sounds good to me." Lyle said, worrying for his own son.

"We can't let them walk to school anymore, either." Charlie said. "We'll split the days, and take turns in dropping them off and picking them up. If Holly saw him watching when they left school, then there's a chance that he's got people watching the route they're taking, so we need to take them by a new route which he won't have watched. Once they're in school, its up to them to look out for each other."

They all nodded. It was as much a plan as they had at the moment, which was all they needed. As long as they had something to delay Steve's plan for a while, they could get the information they needed to extract a better plan.

* * *

Luckily, the boys all understood what they needed to do. It didn't go down to well with their mothers, but when they boys remembered more and more about the day when he got close to them, they were eager to keep an eye out for what he was up to, especially when they knew that the two youngest of them were in danger. Michael and Holly took it hardest, knowing that their hopes of going to the acting school one day were diminished, but their hopes of success were now mixed with the fear that Steve held over them. Finding out that her dream was real was scary for Holly, especially as she knew the meaning behind it now. Alex and Damon, who were the oldest and were given the most responsibility for the plan, took upon them a new stride. They seemed to be more protective of the others, and they began to work like a team more than a group of friends. To Stella, the only one who sat silently through the whole explaination, with her arm around Holly as she sat trying to hold her fear, it looked just like Charlie, Rob, Lyle and Left-ear during the L.A Heist. They sat talking about the different things they could do at school to make sure that Steve couldn't try anything, like getting subtle hints to the teachers that he couldn't be trusted. But the only way they could do that was to let Steve know that they were on to him.

"No." Stella said, maternal instinct kicking in right on time. "No way."

"Mom, it's the only way." Alex told her.

"He's right." Damon seconded. "Besides, Steve doesn't have to know that you guys are on to him, just me and Alex."

"I don't want you going near him Alex." Stella said determindely. "I don't want you talking to him."

"And I don't want him plotting against my parents and trying to get to my sister, but it's happening, isn't it?" Alex retorted. Stella sighed. He was right, he always was.

"Just be careful." She whispered. "Don't provoke him to do anything, Alex, please."

He had never heard such a pleading and desperate tone in his mother's voice, which did intensify the danger that Steve posed to them. He simply nodded his promise, knowing that now he knew everything, it was going to be hard not to go right up to him and kill him with his bare hands. Had he been around when the L.A. heist was taking place, he would have known how much that thought mirrored his father's own talk with Steve after the 'date'.


	13. Higher Than Hope

**I'm really sorry for the delay in updating again :( slaps hand But I've got a lot of problems with my family at the moment which require me to do a lot of babysitting for my cousins. Unfortunately, they have no computer, and they're 8 and 10 years old, which means I have to actually play with the spawns of Satan. The youngest one is just like Charlie it's very scary. He has now turned into my basis for Alex in this story. I've actually had this chapter ready to post for a few days now but every time I tried to upload it, it kept saying that there was an error and it was an empty document, but I've finally managed to get it on here :D Still haven't seen Phantom of the Opera, but there's a chance I might sometime this week. Maybe. If not, I'm going to buy it myself so I can finally get on with this story. Surely it's boring everyone with all this gap filling? **

**Also, In this chapter, you hear a bit about Charlie's past. At the end of this chapter, now having seen what happened in Charlie and Stella's past, you may think twice about wanting to read the stories about them growing up; neither are exactly rainbows and cakes. I started writing a few chapters of Charlie's story the other day, but I won't be posting it up until I have finished this story I'm afraid, because I already have enough fics to be keeping up with. 6 I think. Anyway, onto the chapter, and thank you to my wonderful fans :d Virtual cake and party hats for everyone!**

**Oh, could someone please review my Snatch story? It's only one chapter at the moment, and I hate asking, but I'm not getting any responses for it and I really want to know whether it's worth continuing with? **

**Sam  
Xx**

Somehow, Holly had managed to sleep that night, and whilst Alex had promised to turn his computer off at 10.30, Charlie attempted to get his other girl into bed. Stella, it seemed, had too many other things on her mind than sleeping. She sat timidly on the edge of their bed in her tank-top and shorts, which she had changed into for bed, and instead of laying down as Charlie encouraged her too, she stared at the plush carpet beneath her feet.

Charlie came and sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her drooping shoulders and pulling her close to him. She surrendered easily, but continued looking away from him. For a while, they sat unspeaking, just drawing comfort from each other. But eventually the echoing silence became unbearable for Charlie to bear.

"Stella, why didn't you tell me?" He asked her softly, his voice wasn't pressurising, just loving, assuring.

"Tell you what?" She asked, not moving her eyes from the spot of carpet she was staring at.

"What Steve said to you." He told her, still whispering. "That he threatened you."

She didn't answer for a moment, but when she did, he could tell that she regretted not telling him. "You were so worried about the kids and the security." She said quietly. "I didn't want to worry you even more." That night after Steve had broken in, Charlie had stayed up all night, just walking into different rooms, checking that everything was Ok. Several times, he stopped in the bedrooms, checking on Alex and Holly, and it was only when Stella heard him creeping around, that she had forced him to sleep, knowing that he was no use to anything if he was tired, and assuring him that Rob had taken Steve far away. It was when Charlie had fallen asleep, though, that Stella found herself unable to sleep. Part of her had wanted to wake Charlie up and have him comfort her like he had comforted the terrified children as they put them in their beds, but the more sensible part of her knew that it had drained him so much that day that to add her worries to his list was unnecessary.

"Stella, if you're scared, or worried, or upset, I want to know." He told her comfortingly. "I want you to be able to tell me anything." He added.

"It's not that I couldn't tell you." She said quickly. "I can tell you anything, Charlie, I know that, and I love that. You were worrying so much that I didn't think it was right to load my problems on top of you as well." She explained.

Charlie carefully placed his hand under her chin, and raised it, facing her towards him. They gazed into each other's eyes, and he was reminded of the time after her 'date' with Steve, when she had lain in his arms all night after he had comforted her. A/N: I will be doing a fic on this for people who are thinking 'what? she never did that!' "Stella," He said softly, caressing her cheek with his thumb, "You're my wife, and I love you." He said, even though he knew that she knew it. "Please don't keep these things from me."

"The kids come before me, Charlie." She reminded him. "They always will."

"That doesn't change anything. I love you, and I always will, no matter what. The kids might come first, but I'll always love you with all my heart, Stella." The tears were welling once again in her eyes, and he wiped the drying ones away with a finger. "I don't care how tired I am though, whether I'm half asleep or completely asleep, I want you to tell me anything that's worried you."

She nodded in understanding. "I know I should of, but I didn't know how to say it." She told him. "I could hardly say 'Steve said he's going to kill me' could I?" She said hypothically.

"It doesn't matter how you say it," Charlie assured. "As long as your not locking yourself away again, it doesn't matter what words you use."

"Could I use those words now?" She asked timidly.

He nodded, kissing her temple. "Anytime,"

She sighed. "Steve said he would kill me, and now he's back, I'm terrified that those are the lengths he will go to to get his revenge on you." She admitted. It felt better, having it all off her chest, but she didn't feel any less frightented by the idea of condensing all her fears into one sentance, even though every word was completely true.

"Stella," Charlie assured her, rubbing the top of her arm where he had been resting his hand. "He's not going to do anything to you. I promise."

"What if it was a choice between their lives and mine, Charlie?" She asked him. "What if you had to choose between your children and your wife?"

Charlie, although never having prepared himself for that question, came up with an answer that was so quick that it was instinct. "I'd never put any one of you into a situation like that, and if for some reason, you were in that kind of danger, I'd do anything to make sure that all three of you were safe, even if that meant my own life."

"I don't want you to have that choice either." Stella whispered. "But I couldn't do all of this without you, Charlie. I don't know what I'd do without you." She told him. "I don't want my children to die, but at the same time, I don't want to leave them alone."

"Hey!" Charlie protested. "Don't think like that. None of us are going to die. We are going to find out what Steve's up to, and put a stop to him before he even thinks about hurting any of you."

Stella didn't say anything. She knew Charlie was right, and she knew that he would go to the ends of the earth to protect them.

"Come on." Charlie whispered, pulling back the covers behind her and urging her to lay down. Once she had laid down, Charlie settled in behind her, wrapping one arm over her waist and resting the other above her head on the pillow. He kissed her, expecting her eyes to close, but she didn't close her eyes, she simply stared at the wall opposite her.

All she could think about at that moment was two things Holly had said to her a few days ago. The first was "_When I see you upset, I always ask Grandad that if he is there, to let you smile, and he does." _and the second was _"Grandad's still there. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to you 'cause you're his little girl, and so he made sure that you got good things." _As she lay there, staring into the distance, she shuffled backwards more, getting closer to Charlie, and held the hand that lay around her stomach. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed her shoulder. Holly sent John mental messages all the time, so she said, and according to her, they worked; it couldn't hurt to try, could it?

_Are you out there? _She thought. _Are you watching? Do you know what's happening? Do you know what's threatening your grandchildren? All we wanted was to be good parents, to keep our children safe, but now that Steve's back, I can't even manage to do that. I can't be there 24/7, Dad. Me and Charlie just want them safe. We deserve that, at least, after all we've been through in life, don't we? Please look out on them, Dad, please. If you can, protect them when we can't. _About to open her eyes, she settled with one final thought that if her father could hear her, then she would want him to know. _I love you, Daddy. I've never forgotton the things you've taught me, and I miss you so much. Thank you for bringing Charlie into my life._

Opening her eyes, she saw Charlie gazing down at her, and she sighed. "Don't worry," He whispered to her, hearing the exhaustion in her voice. "A little sleep will help you feel much better."

* * *

Only a little sleep didn't help her feel better. If anything, it made her feel worse. She had only been awake for half an hour before running into the bathroom and throwing up. Charlie sat with her, as he had done during her morning sickness whilst she was carrying Alex and Holly, holding back her hair from her face, and rubbing her back. After that, she had showered and dressed, insisting she was fine, but really trying to slow a deafening thud in her head. Despite the way she felt, she still went downstairs and made breakfast for the kids, even though both Charlie and Alex offered to do it if she wanted to go back to bed.

After breakfast, Alex was in his room doing his homework, and Holly was in her room, practicing for the play. Even though she knew that Steve's plan of getting to her was through the play she was still determined to get through the production. Stella was in the kitchen with Charlie still, clearing away the breakfast remains.

"Are you sure you feel ok?" Charlie asked her.

"It's nothing, Charlie." She told him, amidst the pounding headache and occasional dizziness.

"Doesn't look like nothing." He remarked, observing her pale skin and eyes that weren't as bright as they were the previous day.

"Well, it feels like nothing." She replied, waving his concearn off. "I'm fine."

"You know what fine stands for, Stella." He reminded her.

"Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional." She recited. "Yeah, I know."

"Still feel fine?" He challenged. Usually after reminding her of that little explanation, she would change her mind. Today, however was different.

"Sure do." She said.

Charlie was about to reply when the phone rang. He went over to where the handset was attached to the wall and lifted the cordless reciever. "Hello?" He answered.

"Charlie, it's Lyle. Is Holly in?"

"Yeah she's upstairs."

"Well, Mike wants to know if she wants to get together to practice this afternoon, but you know what he's like with phones."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, I know alright." Michael seemed allergic to phones. He hated answering them, or even talking on them. It seemed strange. "I'll go take the phone up to her." Walking out of the kitchen, he went upstairs with the phone, still talking to Lyle as he went. "You reckon he can bear a three minute conversation with Holly?" Charlie teased.

"She's the only person he'll talk to on the phone." Lyle laughed. "He won't even talk to me if I ring his cellphone."

"Why does he have a cellphone if he never talks on it?" Charlie asked him.

"So he can talk to Holly." They both laughed.

Charlie knocked on Holly's door before entering her bedroom, finding her laying on her front on the bed, following the lyrics to whatever song was playing. She paused the CD when Charlie came in.

"Hi Dad." She said, sounding a lot more cheerful then she had done yesterday.

"Mike's on the phone." He said. She raised an eyebrow.

"Michael is on the phone?" She asked.

"Well, Lyle's on the phone, but Mike wants to talk to you." He passed the handset over to her and sat on the edge of her bed, looking through the lyrics she was reading.

"Michael, hi!" She said. "Yeah, I'll just ask." She put the handset down. "Dad, can Michael come round this afternoon?"

Charlie gave her a confused look. "Holly, him and the others practically live here anyway, why are you even asking?"

She laughed and lifted the phone again. "Yeah, thats fine. What time? ... Ok...I've got all the lyrics here...all right...yeah...see you then!" She hung up and gave the phone back to Charlie. "Uncle Lyle's going to bring him round after lunch."

"Alright," Charlie nodded. "How's the practicing coming?" He asked, making conversation.

"I already know all the songs, it's just the stage actions I have to remember. At least mine are pretty easy compared to Michael's."

"What does he have to do?" Charlie asked.

"A swordfight with Patrick." She said with a laugh. "The way that all the boys hate him though it might turn out to be a real one."

Charlie suddenly felt a lot more compelled to go and see this play for the action in it rather than just because Holly was in it.

"Dad, do I have to go to school tomorrow?" She begged.

"Yes." Charlie said simply, she pouted.

"But-"

"No buts, school is important." Charlie reminded her.

"You never went to school and you turned out fine." She pointed out.

That silenced Charlie for a moment, and he remembered his own childhood. It was nothing of the luxury his children had. Him and his sisters, Laura and Hannah, had been terrified of their father to the point of Charlie moving out as soon as he could, but he hated leaving his younger sisters with their Dad. So he had come to their rescue and they had gone to live with him. Hannah had only been a year old when their mother died, leaving Charlie alone to defend his sisters from their violent father, and that was when he had moved out. Although being an adult herself now, Hannah still saw him as more of a father than a brother, seeing as it had been him and Laura that had brought her up. Laura was still, in her eyes, her sister, as they did all the girly things together like shopping, but Charlie was always the protector, the one that made sure that she went to school, he made sure that no matter what, there was always food on the table to eat. Hannah was too young to remember, but Laura knew especially that Charlie was every bit the father that their real father, Jack, hadn't been. If it wasn't for Charlie, social services would have taken them all away and split them up, but when he knew that they were investigating them, he began covering up for Jack, sneaking food into the house so they were able to have three meals a day, he paid the bills out of money craftily stolen from their father, and he made sure that every one of them went to school every day and that their grades were reasonable. Eventually, the social had given up, and it was then that Charlie took them all away from Jack. It had been John Bridger, once Jack's greatest friend, that had helped him find a place to live, and had even given him work in his lock and safe shop once he had been sacked from his part time job as a delivery boy. John had also introduced him to the world of stealing, which he was already experienced enough in.

"Yes, but that's different." Charlie told Holly. "I didn't have any of this, I didn't even have parents that loved me like you have, and I done a lot of stupid things."

"But you did a lot of great things as well." She reminded him. "You might have saved your sister's lives."

"I know." He said. "But you don't have anyone's life to save."

"I have my own." She reminded him.

"Holly, nothing it going to happen to you."

"He scares me." She said softly. "I don't like knowing that he's there."

Charlie knew straight away that she meant Steve. "I know, baby, it's hard for me to know as well. But remember the plan. Stay with the boys, they'll look after you when me and your Mom can't, even though we want to." She nodded again. "Believe me, Holly, I'd like nothing better than to come in with you tomorrow and kill him with my bare hands for everything his done to you, Alex and your Mom, but I can't."

Holly smiled at Charlie. "I know, Dad, I want you to as well." She said. "But I know that as long as your here I'm safe."

Her confidence gave him a new spring in his step when he went back downstairs; a spring that disappeared when he found Stella sitting on the kitchen floor, her back leaning up against the cupboard behind her and a broken plate shattered across the floor tiles. She had her eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. Charlie knelt beside her, carefully putting his hand on her shoulder, not wanting to startle her.

"Stella?" No response. "Stella!"

Her eyes groggilly opened and she smiled weakly at him. "Hi Charlie." She whispered.

"What's happened? Are you all right?" He asked her quickly. He had been upstairs less than five minutes with Holly, and she had been reasonably well then, hadn't she?

"I was putting the plate away, and then I woke up on the floor." She told him.

"You probably blacked out." He told her. He checked her all over. "Did you cut yourself?"

"A little." She said, showing him her hand. It had a long cut on the inside of her palm which was rather deep, but not seriously deep. It wasn't bleeding profously, and wouldn't require stitches, but Charlie grabbed a cloth that was on the floor behind him and wrapped it tightly around her hand, making sure that it applied pressure. She winced and hissed through her teeth when it came into contact with the wound, but didn't fight it off.

"How do you feel?" He asked, keeping his hands applying the soft pressure to her hand.

"Strange." She said. "Dizzy and ... drifty."

"Headache?" Charlie asked.

"Massive." She said with a weak laugh. Even Charlie returned the smile at her ability to grin through almost everything. "The back of my head mostly." She said, raising her unharmed hand to press the tender space. "I think I hit it when I fell."

Charlie had a feeling that she might have done, and reached to where she was indicating. Sure enough, there was a small lump forming, and she moaned a little when he touched it. "Sorry." He said, not meaning to hurt her. If she had stayed in bed like he knew that she wanted to rather than pretending to be OK, it wouldn't have happened. "That's the last time I let you play hero." He told her.

She smiled weakly again. "You always say that." She reminded him. "It never works."

"Come on, back to bed." He ordered. She started to climb to her feet, but before she had even made it a few inches of the ground he had lifted her up in his arms, and proceeded to carry her upstairs. When he got to their room, he put her back into bed and drew the covers over her, despite her protests that it was too warm for that. When she had said it though, he put his hand over her forehead and she sighed. That was how he always caught her out. "You're burning up." Charlie told her. "How long have you felt like this?" He asked her curiously.

"Just this morning." She told him.

"And.." Charlie said.

"Honestly." She protested.

"Nice try. How long?"

She waited a few seconds and then pouted. "No keeping anything from you." She surrendered. "A while."

"A few days, a while? Or a few weeks a while?"

"A few days." She said truthfully. Having been together for so long now, they knew exactly when the other person was lying. "I didn't think to much of it because I thought that working would distract me from it." She told him.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that tomorrow." He said with his cheeky grin.

"No because my work will distract me." She agreed.

"No," He diverted. "Because you're not getting out of bed until your fever's gone." He told her in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh really?" She challenged. For someone who was sick, she still put up a fight. Charlie's sentences of bed rest were like the biblical plagues; or at least, the house looked like it had a visit from a few of them once she had gotten better.

"Yes, really." He told her.

"You and what army?"

"The army of spies I have dotted around the house." He said with a wink. "Tomorrow, I happen to have the guys running in and out all day sorting stuff out, so there's always gonna be someone to see you trying to do work this time." Last time, she had made it all the way to the office during her bed rest before collapsing again. Charlie hadn't been very amused, particularly because she had been driving through the city centre like a maniac (as per usual) whilst dizzy and could have been in an accident. "Now, go back to sleep."

"Charlie, I'm not tired." She protested, even though her eyelids had already started drooping.

"Of course you're not." He agreed falsly.

"Who's going to make the kid's lunches?" She asked. She still did it even though they were quite old enough to be making their own.

"I think I can manage a few sandwiches." Charlie assured her.

"Do the housework?"

"We dont make that much mess, Alex and Holly can help out." That was a plain lie just to make her feel better. Charlie knew that they would make a lot of mess. They normally did, but they always tried to keep the place tidy.

"Go down to my office and talk to a very important client I have visiting tomorrow morning?" She challenged, knowing that this was one thing he definately couldn't do.

"He'll have to wait." Charlie said stubbornly, after a few seconds.

Stella sighed. She wasn't going to get out of this. "One day." She said finally.

"Two days." Charlie retorted. "Today and tomorrow."

"Charlie-" She complained.

"Stella-" He said in the same voice, but smiling. "Come on, two days, a bit of rest, you'll be fine."

"One and a half." She tried to settle, but Charlie shook his head. "I can't lie in bed for two days." She protested.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Charlie grinned, and leaned down to kiss her. Not having any desire to be sick himself, he planted his lips on her forehead rather than her lips.

"In that case," Stella began, giving in finally. "Can you bring me up a drink?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah." He answered. He left the room, shaking his head at her stubborness. When he had gone back upstairs, however, she was already asleep. Setting her glass of water down on the bedside table, he went back downstairs quietly.


	14. Starting To Unfold

**Naomi: I'm glad you like it, and thanks for the compliment. Believe me, I'd love a little Charlie running around.**

**Warrior of the shadow: Sorry it's taken me a while to update but I have a crazy life at the moment.**

**Darkdestiney2000: I hope they get sorted soon, but my cousins have proven rather useful in my writing, and I let them watch the Italian Job last night and they took a fab liking to it and hate Steve's guts. I'm actually worried that I'm going to have trouble writing these stories for their childhoods, because I'll have to rely totally on my imagination, seeing as I have had such a brilliant childhood myself.**

**OK IMPORTANT PLOT CHOICE: First off, following a review from Naomi I am giving my reviews a choice to choose - Is Stella just sick or is she pregnant? Please give your choice in the review for this chapter as it is up to my reviewers! I have a lot of plans if you think yes she's pregnant, but shall stick to my original plan if you say no she isn't. Also, if you think she should be pregnant, please state whether you think it should be male or female.**

**Sam**

**xx**

The next morning, Charlie woke up with his arms around Stella, who was resting her head on his chest. He could tell she was still asleep from the regular breaths that drifted across his chest. He looked over her head at the glowing numbers on the alarm clock. 6.30. He didn't have to get up to wake the kids up for another 15 minutes, maybe, if he pushed it, half an hour, but he doubted he was lucky enough to have both children set their alarms the previous night. They never did, so it was always Charlie or Stella who went to wake them up. About to go back to sleep, he remembered that he also had to make their lunches that morning. Starting to regret the decision, he slowly pulled away from Stella, not wanting to wake her up. She stirred a little.

"Charlie, it's too early." She complained in a mumble, tightening her arms around him and trying to pull him back into bed. "Stay in bed."

Charlie grinned, looking down at her. "I'd love to, but I have lunches to make." He reminded her.

She lifted her head and gave him a funny look. "At half past six?" She asked him grumpily.

He laughed softly. "You're really not a morning person, are you?" He asked. He had lost count of the amount of times he had said that to her. She was never a morning person unless she could have a lie in, which, with two teenage children and a number of visiting neighbours with teenagers of their own, was very rare. She was even worse in the mornings when she was ill.

"Mornings are fine." She told him. "I love mornings. This is the middle of the night."

Charlie laughed and leaned down to kiss her. "You can stay in bed." He reminded her. "I'll go and sort the kids out, take them to school, and then I'll come back to bed."

Stella sighed, letting go of him and curling into a ball beneath the covers and wrapping them around her so that even if Charlie changed his mind right that second and wanted to come back to bed, he wouldn't be able to. "Ok." She told him.

Charlie got out of bed, and showered quickly. While he was getting dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, he noticed that Stella had already gone back to sleep again, and he went down the hall to the kids rooms. First off, was Alex, because he knew that Alex would have to be most likely dragged out of bed. He was much like Stella in the mornings. Preparing himself for the morning challenge, he poked his head around Alex's open bedroom door. "Alex, morning." Charlie said rather loudly. "Time to get up."

Rather than being met with his usual grumbled reply, he was met with silence. Charlie noticed that the bed was empty and looked around the room, spotting the seventeen year old boy at the computer beneath the window. "Morning, Dad." He said cheerfully, rising a mug of coffee in his hand. "Come on in."

"Please don't tell me you've been up all night drinking coffee." Charlie said. Last time Alex had spent a whole night drinking coffee, he had to go and collect him from school the next day after being rung by the headteacher. Twelve-year-old Alex had single-handedly made a wreck of half the school and then fallen asleep in the middle of it, whilst being told off by a teacher. Whilst Charlie and Stella had found it extremely funny once they had got to the school and seen the damage that he had done, he had been very lucky not to be thrown out of the school. It was a wonder they had allowed him to stay considering all he had done. After that incident, they made sure that the coffee was well hidden from him.

"No. I woke up at half four and couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd grab some coffee and have a surf on the net." Alex explained. "Don't worry." He added. "It's only my first cup."

"Anything interesting?" Charlie asked, thankful that there was no way he would be stuck with coffee-boy again. He was worse with coffee then he had been with sugar as a kid - and that was saying something. The doctors had called it severe hyperactivity, but Charlie knew all along it was just personality.

"That school." Alex told him, "The acting school."

"It's been relocated." Charlie said, remembering what Lyle had said.

"To London. I looked up their website and there's list of the talent scouts on the webpage. Shaun Martin, the guy who was at the audition, isn't on the list." Alex told him, showing him the list.

"No chance that he's just been missed off?" Charlie asked, with false hope.

"Nope. Even the ones that were working in New York have been listed, and he's not there either." Alex said, double checking the list as he went. "This Shaun guy is definately working for Steve."

Charlie sighed. "Right, well, stick with the plan." Alex nodded. "And get dressed, school, remember." He added. Charlie left the room and went to the next door, Holly's. Her door was open as well, and he went in slowly, seeing that she was still in her bed and curled on her side, facing away from him. With her long blonde hair spread over the pillows behind her, he could have easily mistaken her for Stella. "Holly." He said softly, and she fidgetted. "Come on, Princess, time for school." He coaxed, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Mom went on a date with him, didn't she?"

Charlie froze in place. "What?"

"Mom. She went on a date with Steve." Her voice was flat, empty of any emotion.

"How do you know that?" Charlie asked. None of the children knew about that. They had left that detail out of it, all they were told about was the heist itself. How could she possibly have known? Charlie put a hand on her shoulder and she rolled over and faced him, laying on her other side. There were dried tears glistening on her face and she looked as pale as Stella did yesterday.

"Another dream...and uncle Rob told me." She said softly.

"Come here." Charlie said, and she sat up, letting him hug her. She hugged him hard back, and felt him kiss the top of her head. "Yeah." He answered. "Yeah, she did."

"Why?" She asked.

"She didn't want to, none of us wanted her to. When we snuck her in to repair his cable, he asked her out to dinner, but we were going to let her stand him up while we boosted the gold. Steve's neighbour threw a party so we couldn't get in there, and so she had to go." Charlie explained quietly.

"Grandad didn't beg for his life, did he?" She asked quietly.

"No." He assured her. "No, he didn't."

"Good." She whispered.

They stayed hugging each other for a few minutes before Charlie remembered that she had to go to school. "You've got to get ready for school, princess." He told her.

"Dad, please don't make me go." She begged.

He looked at her sadly. All he wanted was to keep his children at home, where he could see them, and protect them himself. He hated sending them to where he knew that Steve was watching them, waiting for them. Why did he have to get his revenge through them? It would make Charlie sleep easier if he knew that Steve was at least coming after him and him only. That way, he could send Stella and the kids away somewhere, where they'd be safe, somewhere where Steve would never find them. A lightbulb struck in his mind. _Take them somewhere else. _He thought to himself. There had to be somewhere they could go.

"Holly, I'm sorry, but you have to." He said regretfully.

"What if he talks to me?" She asked panicky.

"Just stay with the boys." He told her. "They'll look after you. I'm going to take you to school, and I'm going to pick you up as well, so there's nothing he can do to you. He can't do anything while you're in school."

She nodded, convinced. "Ok." She whispered.

"That's my girl." Charlie said, and went downstairs, leaving her to get changed.

When he got to the kitchen, he found Alex sitting at the breakfast counter eating cereals. "Hey." He said, when Charlie entered.

"Alex, please keep an eye on her." Charlie said desperately. "Please."

"Woah calm down, Dad!" He said quietly. "We won't let anything happen to her."

"She's scared to death." Charlie said, sitting opposite him. "I've just had her begging not to go to school."

Both of them knew that Holly loved school and would never take a day off willingly. Like Stella, she had to be forced to rest when she was ill, and would prefer to go out to distract herself. At least Charlie had experience in handling that though.

"She'll be fine once she gets her nose in a book." Alex assured him. "Besides, I know for a fact that she'll be all right."

"Why's that?" Charlie asked, wondering about Alex's sudden confidence in this matter.

"She's part Croker, part Bridger, and from what I hear, being part of either is pretty deadly for anyone who tried to screw around with you guys when you've got your head set on it." Alex said. "I just hope she never drives like Mom does." He said teasingly.

Charlie laughed. After a while, Holly, now looking less frightened, joined them, and had her breakfast. Luckily, he managed to get them off into school without too much of a fuss, except a final plead from Holly, which reluctantly he turned down, and watched them until the front doors had closed before turning back down the driveway and going home. On the way home, he thought once again about the thought that had struck him earlier. If anything remotely bad happened, they could call the school and say that they were taking a holiday, and then take Stella and the kids somewhere safe. The only problem was finding someone who could keep them safe from Steve rather than posing an equal threat.

Stella's mother was still somewhere in Philadelphia, but he knew that there was no way that Stella would let her kids near her mother again. When Alex had been born, she had attempted to start a new leaf with her, whilst staying with her when Alex was two years old. Justine, Stella's mother, had run a bath and fallen asleep in her chair downstairs, forgetting to turn off the hot tap. Charlie and Stella had been out for the evening, and Justine had been woken up by a screaming Alex, who had fallen into the bathtub. He was rushed to hospital, where Charlie and Stella had met her, and Justine had even gone as far as to tell the hospital that Stella had poured boiling water over him. Stella was heartbroken when social services had come into the hospital ward asking if she had deliberatly harmed her son, and it was only when a neighbour of Justine's told them that she had seen Charlie and Stella out for the evening when it had happened that Stella was finally allowed to see Alex without supervision, let alone hold him. Had the neighbour not stood up for them, they probably would have had Alex taken away from them because of Justine. Because of that, Justine had never seen Holly before, and probably didn't know she existed, and Alex still had a scar remaining on his thigh where the burns hadn't completely healed over. There was no way that Alex and Holly would be safe with Justine. Stella wouldn't be safe, either, knowing her history with her mother, so the last thing Charlie wanted to do was to take them from one danger and put them with another.

Charlie's father was pretty much on the same standing. The last time Charlie had seen him had been when John Bridger was alive and before he had hooked up with Stella. He had been twenty five at the time, four years before the big heist, and he had confronted his father about everything he had done to his sisters. By that time, he had raised his baby sister to the age of nine, and his older sister had helped him a lot, though he had to protect her as well. John Bridger had given them a place to live, and Charlie had taken them away as soon as he had left school. Jack Croker had last seen his children in the middle of the street whilst trying to drag a nine-year-old Hannah home with him. Charlie had noticed that she wasn't at his side anymore, and had turned to see Hannah with Jack and had hit the roof. If John hadn't have been there, he probably would have killed his father that night. Instead, Charlie had just hit him back for one, and Jack had disappeared now that he knew that he couldn't control Charlie through fear anymore. Charlie had stood up to him enough to drive him away from them forever. Jack Croker had a hard enough time seeing his daughters once Charlie was looking out for them, and he sure as hell wasn't seeing his grandchildren.

Then the thought came to him. Laura and Hannah.

His sisters were about an hours drive from where he lived. Of course, both had their own children now, and Laura was married as well, but they both had large enough houses to allow the four of them to stay as well. Charlie and Stella had given them enough money to buy them a house so that they wouldn't have to struggle with money. Pulling into the driveway, he practically ran into the house, and up into the bedroom. Stella was laying in bed reading when he found her, and he stood at the end of the bed, catching his breath for a moment. "Laura and Hannah." He told her.

"No, Charlie, I'm Stella." She told him confused.

"No." Charlie said. "My sisters. If anything happens, we'll go stay with them, Steve won't know where to find us. We'll be safe." He explained.

Stella looked at him for a while. "Charlie, that is probably the best idea you've had yet." She told him with a smile.

Charlie collapsed onto the bed, laying on his back at Stella's feet, which were curled beneath her. "You'll be safe there." He told her. "Anyway, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"I threw up again this morning, but apart from that and a lot of hunger, I feel much better." She assured him.

He sat up and surveyed her. She didn't look pale anymore like she had done yesterday, and even had some colour back in her cheeks giving her a healthy glow. Raising his hand, he placed it on her forehead. "Well, your fevers gone." He said and she grinned.

"See, one day." She told him.

"I could still make it two." Charlie warned her.

"I'd like to see you try." She challenged.

To no one's suprise, neither of them emerged from the bedroom until at least lunchtime. But Stella still won, and by early afternoon was wandering around the house, under Charlie's orders to take it easy, but she still ended up cleaning the kitchen from Charlie's attempts at lunches for the kids.

**Well? Pregnant or not pregnant? YOU decided. Wow, this sounds like the eviction nights on Big Brother. Anyway, please let me know in your reviews!**


	15. Distant Sun

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Sorry I can't write more of a note but I'm very pushed for time, so please R &R and more importantly, enjoy! BTW, Darkdestiney2000, the vows in my other story were my parents vows at their wedding last year. I have also done my story on the scene from Stella and Steve's date which is posted up now.  
Sam  
xxx**

The following morning, Stella was up with them all at breakfast. She had been sick again that morning, wondering how she was still finding things to bring up even though she had barely eaten recently. She sat at the breakfast table with the kids whilst Charlie was making them both coffee. Her skin was pale again, but she didn't want to worry the kids.

"Holly, remember that you have to go to the stables tonight." Stella reminded.

"Oh yeah," Holly replied suddenly. "I almost forgot."

Every tuesday evening, Holly went up to the stables just out of town where her horse, Bramber, was kept. She used to take lessons in riding him, but recently she had stopped, as she knew all she needed to know about riding, as she had been riding Bramber since she was seven years old. Now that she had stopped, she went up to clean out the stables, and give Bramber a run over the jumping courses. Sometimes, she went up at weekends with Stella and she would borrow a friends horse and they would go riding in the surrounding forest.

"Here's your coffee." Charlie said, setting it down beside her.

"Oh, I love you." She said thankfully, quickly taking up the mug and drinking from it. When it had settled in her stomach, though, she found herself feeling ill again. Grimacing a little and putting the cup down, she put her hand over her stomach to try and calm it.

"You sure you haven't eaten anything bad?" Charlie asked her for the fifth time.

"Nothing you guys haven't eaten as well." She told him. "It's probably just a bug." She added.

"Just don't pass it on to us." Holly said with a laugh.

"If it was catching, one of you would already have it," Stella pointed out.

She looked at Alex's breakfast, which consists of his usual egg and bacon sandwich. Just the smell of the fried foods made her stomach turn again. Shuddering a little, she groaned at him. "Alex, how can you eat that?" She asked him. "It's disgusting."

He shrugged. "I dunno, it's nice."

'Nice' was the last word that Stella would use to describe it. Distracting herself from his breakfast, she started to think of what to have herself. Standing up, she went over to the counter and started looking through the cupboards.

"What'cha looking for, honey?" Charlie asked over his coffee.

"Breakfast." She said simply.

Charlie stood up, leading her back to her chair and making her sit down. "You sit down, I'll get it." He told her. "What do you want?" He asked her.

Without skipping a beat, she answered. "A peanut butter sandwich with ham and chocolate spread."

Alex choked on his mouthful of sandwich before telling her "You think my breakfast is weird?" Charlie was standing staring at her with the oddest expression.

"You haven't had that in years." He reminded.

"I know." She said, "I could just really go for one right now."

"You mean she's eaten that before?" Alex asked, "And survived?"

"It's lovely." Stella told him.

"It's probably going to give you brain damage." Alex suggested stupidly, finishing up the last of his sandwich. "What kind of crazy craving is that? Sounds like something a pregnant woman would have." He said, then spied the clock on the wall. "Come on, Hols, we're gonna be late."

Holly looked at the clock also, and then at her half eaten breafast. She sighed. "Just because you want to get their early to see Amy." She said in a teasing singsong voice.

The kids disappeared upstairs, while Stella laughed a little at Holly's teasing of Alex. She noticed that Charlie was still staring at her with the same expression. "Whats wrong?" She asked him.

"You haven't had a sandwich with that much filling for years, Stella." He told her. "_Thirteen _years."

That jogged her memory a little more, but she just continued with a smile. "I know." She said again. "Last time was probably when I was pregnant with Ho-" She stopped mid sentance with a suprised expression on her face.

Charlie raised one eyebrow. "You don't think..." He started.

"I don't know." She said quietly.

"It would explain a lot." Charlie thought out loud. "Being sick, the craving, the fever..." Stella had experienced a fever at the beginnings of both of her pregnancies with the children, and as far as she could remember, they had been the only times she had had one.

"I suppose it's possible." She said, still shocked by the idea of it. "I'm not late though." She told him.

Charlie came around behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently. "It's all right." He reassured. "If you are, we can deal with it, if not...then we'll just have to find out what else is making you ill." He assured her.

Stella didn't know what to think of it all. Sure, she loved her kids more than anything, but she hadn't been prepared for another one since Holly had started to get older. The pair of them had always wanted children, but Charlie was scared of turning out like his father, and Stella equally scared of becoming a shadow of her mother, but instead, parenting seemed much more fun then their parents made out. Alex was early an adult himself now, at seventeen years old, and Holly was nearly a teenager; would they be able to cope with another baby? Of course, if she _was_ pregnant, she would find a way to cope, but that didn't change the fact that she and Charlie were not as young as they used to be. She mentally shook herself, what the hell was she thinking? Another child was a blessing, not a curse!

"Charlie," She said softly, but sweetly, pulling him down by the collar of his t-shirt to kiss him. "I love you."

"Love you too." He said, kissing her back. The kiss would have deepened if Stella hadn't suddenly pulled away and rushed into the nearest bathroom, which was just outside of the kitchen off the hallway. Sighing with a smile, Charlie muttered a quiet "Here we go again," before following her.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

"How's the plan going?"

"Good, sir."

"Good? That doesn't tell me anything."

"Sorry, sir."

"Tell me about the girl, Holly, is she ever alone?"

"Hardly. Her father takes her to school and picks her up every day except for Friday afternoons, where she goes to the Bridger Lock store in town where her mother works."

"Figures. Go on."

"When she isn't with her parents, she's with her brother and the other boys that follow them around."

"Corridors? Between classes?"

"As of Monday morning, she's always been with one of the boys in between classes."

"What about after school? Where does she go?"

"Home, as far as our tailers can tell."

"What does that mean?"

"Now that Charlie takes her to school, the old route isn't used. We tried to pin a tail on him on monday afternoon, but he used a complicated route, like he was trying to lose us. I don't think he saw us."

"You don't think, or you don't know?"

"I'm not sure."

"Whatever. Friday afternoon is the first main rehersal, isn't it?"

"Yes, the songs."

"I don't care what they're rehursing. Just get me in there."

"In there? But Sir- isn't that a bit risky?"

"Risky?"

"The boy... Alex...he might remember you."

"I doubt that. He was just a kid."

"He was eight, sir. I think he'll remember."

"Did I ask you what you thought?"

"No sir."

"Then remember who's paying you for this. Remember what's on the line. I don't think your wife would appreciate it if Daniel never got to see his tenth birthday."

"Sir I-"

"Enough! Tomorrow I'll speak with the girl. She must have one weakness, some time when no ones around to protect her."

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Alex wandered the corridors quickly, weaving his way between the groups of students standing in his way. He spotted Holly's classroom at the end of the corridor, and began dodging the oncoming students even faster. Jason was following, but not managing to dodge as quickly as Alex was, often bumping into the groups of gossipers. When he finally made his way to the door of his sister's classroom, he found a note pinned to the door.

_Mrs Sharp's Music Group_

_Period 3_

_Please go to room 103 for today's lesson._

Groaning, Alex turned back to Jason, who was finally getting past a group of giggling girls. "Come on!" He said grumpily. "They're in another room."

"Which one?" Jason asked, slightly out of breath as he followed Alex down the nearest flight of stairs.

"103."

"But that's the other side of the school, Alex!" Jason protested wearily.

"Your point being?"

"We're going to be late for Sykes's class!"

Alex stopped on the stairs and turned to Jason. "Jase, if you want to go to class, go. I'm going to find my sister though." Alex said, and darted through another group of students that were coming towards him. With a sigh, Jason carried on following the determined boy.

At the bottom of the stairs he bumped head on into Nick, who was closely followed by Nathan. "Woah!" Alex exclaimed, struggling to balance himself and having to grasp the handrail at the last minute.

"Were where you?" Nathan asked, pulling Nick up from the floor.

"In my Math class, then I went to Holly's class room."

"She's in 103."

"I know that now." Alex said. "That's where I'm going."

"You're a bit late." Nick told him.

"What?"

"We saw the note and figured we'd wait just in case. Good thing we did." Nick said to Alex, who frowned.

"Why? What happened?"

"Come with us." Nathan instructed, and began to lead Alex outside by the nearest door, which took them to a secluded seating area with a rain cover and benches. "When we left our classroom, Holly's class had gone already, but we found her in the corner of the corridor being ...uh...disturbed." He began to explain.

"Disturbed? Who by?" Alex asked concerned.

"We'll call him an old friend of the family." Nick said.


	16. Erase And Rewind

Holly sat in the back of the car on the way home from school that day, not even attempting to fight for the front seat with her brother, a Croker tradition. Alex offered for her to sit in the front, which suprised Charlie, but she acted like she didn't hear him, and got straight into the back seat, deliberately sitting behind Charlie and putting a book infront of her face so that he couldn't see her.

"Holly?" Charlie asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Fantastic." She said in an oddly quiet tone, not looking up from her book to where Charlie had turned in his seat to look at his daughter. Obvious that he wasn't going to get any other sort of answer out of her for the moment, Charlie turned to Alex, who nodded to let him know that he would explain later. Extremely worried, Charlie began to drive away from the school, glancing at his stone faced daughter in the rear-view mirror every so often.

She was doing the one thing that Charlie encouraged her not to do. She was holding in her emotion. He would rather her be a permanently stroppy teenager then keep everything locked inside. He had seen first hand the damage it could do to someone, and he didn't want to see his daughter harming herself like that. Trying to block out the deafening silence, spoke aloud.

"We're having everyone over for dinner." Charlie told them, simply to make conversation. He knew something was wrong with Holly, but he didn't want to force it out of her, and become like his father. "We're ordering in."

"What're we having?" Alex asked.

"Pizza, probably, or Chinese."

Alex grinned, either one was fine with him, when it came to having a take out, he would eat anything so long as it was hot and not contaminated.

The rest of the drive home was just as silent as it had been before. Charlie spoke occassionally, as did Alex, but Holly continued reading. Yet Alex had noticed that she had not turned the page once in the ten minute journey. When they got home, Holly went straight upstairs to her room, not even wandering around the house as she usually did to find Stella. As Alex was about to walk upstairs himself to put his bag down in his room and change out of his uniform, Charlie stopped him by putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Oh no." Charlie said. "You're not going anywhere." Alex sighed. "What's wrong with your sister?" Charlie asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Alex muttered.

"Oh, I want to know." Charlie assured him. "What happened?"

Alex was silent for a moment, and the father and son locked eyes. The only thing preventing Charlie from looking at a mirrored image of himself was that he was seeing Stella's eyes staring back at him, but his face in his son. "Neither of us can be there all the time, Dad." Alex told him. Charlie frowned in confusion. "I got to her classroom to take her to her next class but there'd been a room change and I didn't get there in time. The others did, and they found Holly in the corridor."

"What happened?" Charlie repeated.

"Steve." Alex said, and he watched a strangely angry emotion fill his fathers eyes. "He was talking to her. None of us went to our next lessons, complained we were ill, and we tried to get her to talk to us, but she's just silent." Alex explained. "She's just switched off."

"Do you know what he said to her?" Charlie asked.

Alex shook his head. "We all tried, she won't talk about it." He said. "We did try, Dad, really we did." He added hastily.

Charlie's gaze softened. "I know, I don't blame you." He assured his son, and clapped his hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "You're trying, that's all I ask. But as soon as I get within ten feet of Steve-, well, just make sure you aren't around to watch." Charlie informed him.

Alex gave a choked laugh. "Are you kidding?" He asked. "I want to help." He said, and Charlie grinned at his son. "Hey," Alex added. "Let's race, see who can give him the most beatings in a minute."

Although it wasn't really a subject that they should have joked about, and they both knew it, they found that laughing it off was an easier way to deal with it. "You're on." Charlie agreed, then turned serious."Ok, I'm going to sort this out."

"Mom?" Alex asked.

"Yup. STELLA?" Charlie called through the house as he went into the living room, where he found his wife laying out on the couch reading a book.

"Hey." She said as they walked in, and she marked the page in her book and closed it. "Did you have a good day, Alex?"

Before Alex could answer, Charlie stepped in. "We need to have a talk with our daughter." He told her seriously.

Stella frowned yet her eyes widened a little. "Why?" She asked. "What's she done?"

"She hasn't done anything." Charlie said with a sigh. "Steve on the other hand..." He regreted having to say it as soon as the words had passed his lips. There wasn't anything else he could have said, but he knew that it was the last thing Stella wanted to hear.

Stella was instantly on her feet. "WHAT?" She exclaimed. "What has he done?"

Both Alex and Charlie shook their heads. "No idea." Charlie said. "She's switched off, won't talk to anyone."

Meanwhile, Holly had gone up into her bedroom and put her bag on her bed, then began rumaging through it. After a few moments, she emerged with an envelope in her hands. It was from Steve, who had given it to her when he had caught her in the corridor, and addressed to her parents, but had her name on as well, so she opened it. Sitting down on her bed, she put the paper in her lap. It consisted of two sheets of paper, one addressed to both her parents, and one to just her father.

_Dear Mr and Mrs Croker._

_Having recently witnessed your daughter, Holly Croker, earn the female lead in this term's school production of the Phantom of the Opera, I am delighted to offer her a place in the New York Acting Academy as a college placement. Although the placement will only be available when she reaches 17 years of age and has graduated from high school, I am confident that her ability to both act and exceed in academic subjects will continue at such a high standard, and I have no doubts at all about reserving her a place. _

_The opening night of the production will take place on the 14th November, and all proceeds for the ticket price will go to a charity. To book tickets, please contact the school reception who will send them home with your child. I look forward to meeting the parents of such a rising star of an actress, and would appreciate a meeting after the performance to arrange the final details of Holly's placement._

_If you have any queries, please contact me on the number above._

_Your Sincerley,_

_Mr Shaun Martin._

_New York Acting Academy, Talent Scout._

Letting out a sigh, she set that paper aside, she couldn't bring herself to look at the one just from her father, so she put both letters back in the envelope and resealed it convincingly. Laying back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, she let her mind wander back to the events that had occured that afternoon.

_"Miss Croker?"_

_She paused, looking around to see who had called her name. Immediately, she wished she hadn't reacted, she remembered that name from her taunting dreams. Reluctantly, her eyes met with a man wearing sunglasses and a black suit. She tried to look away, but knew it was too late, as everyone else had already began to hurry off to their next class, and Steve was approaching her slowly. _

_"Miss Croker, I have looked forward to meeting you for a long time." He said with a large false smile. Taking off his sunglasses and revealing his eyes to her, his cruel, ambitious eyes, he extended her hand to shake hers. Tentatively, she shook his hand, not liking the feel of his skin against hers. "Your acting is extraordinary, especially for someone your age." She didn't answer at first, and he gazed at her thoughtfully, as if trying to read her mind. _

_"Thank you." She said quietly, trying to get away from him as soon as possible. _

_"You are most welcome, Holly." He told her. "I'm Steven Bain. You know the talent scout, Shaun Martin, I'm his boss. He works for me." Yes, I know what a boss is, she thought stupidly, but didn't voice her opinion. She was focusing hard on her parents advice - Don't do anything to provoke him._

_"I have to go." She said determindely. "I have to get to class."_

_"Surely it doesn't matter if you're late for a few minutes." Steve reasoned. "I was hoping you'd accompany me down to the auditorium, I could do with some help on a few matters concerning your co-stars. You may be able to help me out." That was the last thing she wanted to do. _

_"I'm sorry, Mr Bain," She said, as politely as she could manage with the panick she was feeling. "I really must go to class. I have a test." She lied. She didn't have a test, but she would rather have one than stand here with Steve._

_"Shame." Steve said with a evil smile as she turned to walk up the corridor. "Your father would be very upset."_

_She stopped in her tracks, and turned slowly. "My father?" She asked. Why was he mentioning her father? She hadn't said anything about him. He looked at her challengingly, as if daring her to act upon him._

_"You're not as innocent as you look, Holly." He told her. "I know more than you think I do. Here, give this to your parents. I'll know if you don't." He handed her an envelope. _

_"Holly!"_

_She was about to ask him more, suddenly intrigued by what he was saying, but was interrupted by two familiar voices calling out at the same time. Before she could say anything, Damon and Michael were stood before her, blocking Steve from view, and when she looked over their shoulders, he was already gone. Before they saw the envelope, she hid it in her shoulder bag. _

_"Are you alright?" Damon asked. "What did he say to you?" _

_She looked down, avoiding their eyes. "Nothing." She lied, but stood still. Now that Steve was gone, she realised that she had been standing face to face with the man who had killed her grandfather, and she had been polite to him. This man was the reason that Stella had lost her father, and yet she had shaken his hand. She shook her head, and felt a pair of arms embrace her, Michael's. She hugged him furiously, wanting to take back everything that had just happened, and then the twins had joined them. She vaugely heard Damon instructing them to go and find Alex, and she was led outside of the school to a bench which was sheltered from the wind, and there she had sat and refused to tell anyone what Steve had said to her._

Sighing, Holly wondered why she had stood there. Why hadn't she run? She should have run as fast as she could to her brother, to Michael, to Damon, the twins, anyone, but she stayed. In a way, it was her own fault, and she knew that. She was struggling to wonder why her father would be upset if she didn't do what he said. He had only asked her to go to the auditorium, why would Charlie be upset if she didn't go? He hadn't mentioned anything on the drive home about it, so surely Steve was just winding her up, right? He couldn't really do anything to her, could he?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she said dully. "Come in." She wasn't at all suprised to see both her parents entering her room. She sat up as Charlie closed the door behind him, and as he sat down opposite her, Stella came and sat beside her. They were silent for a while, before Charlie started talking.

"Alex told us what happened." He said quietly.

"I guessed." Holly said, just as quietly.

"Are you all right, sweetie?" Stella asked, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

Holly nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just a bit shocked." She admitted, there was no point keeping things from the two people in the world who could tell when she was lying.

Charlie leaned forward and picked up Holly's hands in his own. "Holly, we're not going to force you to tell us what happened before the others turned up." He told her. "But if you do want to tell us, we can help with this, but I don't want you to do it because we want you to, I want you to tell us because _you _want to." His voice was as comforting as he could make it, and Holly squeezed his hand in return, at the same time as she leaned her head on Stella's shoulder.

"He shook my hand." She said. "I had to shake hands with the man who killed my grandfather before I could meet him."

Though Charlie and Stella were proud that Holly cared so much for the late John Bridger, it was a wonder how she could love him as other loved their grandparents, even though she had never met him. Now that she knew exactly how John had died, her hatred for Steve had doubled.

Holly handed out the letter to Charlie. "He told me to give you this." She said. "One's from the talent scout, but one's from him. To you, Dad. He said he'd know if I didn't give it to you."

Charlie read the first letter and handed it to Stella when he had finished, who read it silently herself. Whilst Stella was reading the first, Charlie looked down at the second.

_You never thought that I could have them at my mercy, did you, Charlie? I bet you'd even forgotten all about my plan. What I said nine years ago still counts. Whatever you do to me, I'll do to them. All three of them. Your 'darling' wife, you're 'precious' children; they aren't safe anymore Charlie. You can try to protect them, but it won't help. One way or another, I'll find them, I'll find you, and you'll wish you never came after me in LA. If you interfear with my plans, or screw anything up for me, I will kill them, one by one. The kids first, so that you and Stella can watch it, and know that it was your actions that caused it. After watching them die, Stella's next, and everything you've built with my gold will fall apart. You'll have no family, Charlie. None. Just because of the gold. Unless I get my gold back, their lives are mine. I want every cent back, in cash. To refresh your memory from twenty years ago, that's $27 million, and unless I get it all back, Stella, Alex, and Holly die. Don't even think that I'm messing around. Give me my gold, and won't hurt any of them, but until then, I can strike anytime. _

He looked up to find Holly looking out the window, and Stella staring at him curiously. She wanted to know what the letter from Steve said, but instead of showing her, where Holly could easily read it as well, he slipped it into his pocket. "Holly-" Charlie began, but Holly cut him off.

"He tried to get me to go with him to the auditorium." She told them, "I said no, and he said that my father would be very upset. He said I'm not as innocent as I look and that he knows more than I think he does."

Charlie didn't answer. He didn't have an answer. For once, Charlie Croker, the mastermind planner of the Italian Job and the LA Heist, had no plan.


	17. Finer Feelings

It was about midnight. Charlie lay on his back on the couch, with his arm draped over his eyes, blocking out what little light was coming from the lamp on the small table beside the couch. For little else than to test out the silence in the room, he let out a heavy sigh. All evening he had been desperately thinking of a plan. Holly had stayed up in her room from the moment she had got in from school. She didn't even want to come down for dinner. They had saved her some though, and Stella had taken it up to her afterwards. Stella had stayed upstairs with her for at least an hour and a half, no doubt talking, but he had seen her plate when Stella had carried it back down into the kitchen, and Holly had barely touched the Spaghetti, which was usually her favourite meal. Alex had tried to help him think of a plan as well, but it hadn't gotten them anywhere, and eventually, he had disappeared to his own room to do his homework.

Why now? He wondered. He and Stella had finally moved on from what Steve had done to them by breaking in, and he was glad to see the back of him. Finally, things were looking up for them. Their children were growing up, and they loved them with all their hearts. They had beaten their awful childhoods and came together to make their own family, which was filled with all the love that they had wanted when they were growing up. They had got justice for what Steve did to John Bridger, and they had got the gold, even though that was the least important of what they had accomplished. He just wanted his children to be able to grow up in complete opposite to how he did; he didn't want them to be looking over their shoulders to make sure that they weren't being watched. He didn't want his children to feel that they only had each other to get through life. He was greatful that they were so close, as he knew loads of siblings that yelled and argued with one another, but they weren't on their own, they had him, and Stella, and all of the others. But now, when he had just thought that life was perfect, Steve, as usual, came along and spoiled it.

Does he enjoy ruining my life? Charlie thought grimly to himself. Does he enjoy watching me suffer? He wanted to protect his family. He wanted to take away his wife's fear that their children were going to be taken and that she would be killed. He wanted to take away the responsibility that his had taken on now that he thought that his sister was in danger. He wanted to take away the darkness that was the fear which clouded his daughter's normally glitteringly happy eyes; but he couldn't. Every time he thought that something was working, it wasn't.

I have to get them out of here, he realised. He could take them to his sisters, but they had families, children, of their own; but by taking Stella and the kids there he would place the others in danger. Was it worth the risk to put his whole family before Steve on a platter? No, he thought, there has to be somewhere else. Someone, somewhere...

"Charlie?"

A soft whisper brought him back to the living room, and he opened his eyes, not realising that he had closed them. His arm which had previously been over his face was now lying limply over his chest, and beside it was a slender hand that nudged him slightly. He hadn't realised he had fallen asleep, he didn't even know he was tired. He looked up at the owner of the hand, and saw Stella looking over him, a concerned look on her face that reminded him of a guardian angel.

"Hey." He said to her, taking her hand in his and bringing it up to his lips.

"Charlie, what are you doing down here?" She asked him. He could hear every bit of worry in her voice. "You've been fast asleep for hours." She informed.

He looked to his side, and saw the clock on the wall. 3.30am, he had been asleep for ages. "I didn't realise I was so tired." He explained.

"I'm not suprised." She said lightly, but her light comment was brushed off without her usual smile which he usual saw over her face with that tone of voice. "You haven't slept properly for days." She said, although he didn't need telling. "I'm worried about you Charlie."

He shrugged a little. He would have forced himself into sleep if he knew that he was worrying Stella through it. "Don't worry about me." He told her. "We have more important things to worry about." He reminded her.

She gave him that look that she always gave him when she was about to point something out to him that proved he was wrong. "The other night you told me that no matter what goes on with the kids, you want to know whats worrying me as well." She told him, taking him back to that night when she had cried herself to sleep. "I'm worried about you, Charlie." She repeated. "Trust me, I notice when you don't sleep. I hear you tossing and turning, pacing the halls, the bedroom, all the same as you notice me."

He sighed again. "Sorry," He apologized, "I just..." He trailed off. He just what? He was silent for a few moments, and after finding himself unable to look Stella in the eye, he looked at the floor to his side. We've been married for eighteen years, and I can't even look her in the eye and tell her I'm lost. "I just don't know what to do." He admitted in such a soft whisper, if she hadn't seen his lips move, she wouldn't have known he said it.

"Oh, Charlie." She said with a sigh, placing her hand on the side of his face and bringing his gaze back to hers. She leaned down and kissed him, before pulling back and looking at him again. "I know you'll think of something." She said, and her faith in him only made him feel worse for not having a plan.

"What if I can't?" He asked out loud. "What if Steve's won this time?"

"Don't talk that way." Stella told him, her voice calm and soothing. "We need to stay positive, remember? We're going to get through this."

"I've got to get you out of here, Stella." He said desperately. "I've got to take you all away, somewhere safe. But Hannah and Laura, they've got their own families as well. I can't put the rest of my family in danger, having you three is bad enough." He said, letting all his doubts out now that he had a chance too. "We can't take the risk of going to theirs, it will complicate everything."

"Charlie, we'll find somewhere else, anywhere else, and the kids will be safe." She said, keeping her hand on the side of his face. Their roles had definately been reversed since the other night; now it was him that needed comforting. "If it comes to it, we'll have to think wider, take them somewhere and come back to finish with Steve." She said, although hating the idea of leaving the children somewhere with the small hope that they would be safe without them.

"On their own? We can't do that." Charlie said, confirming what was written in her eyes when she had said it.

"There has to be somewhere." She said, hiding the desperation she felt when she said that.

"If we keep running, he'll keep chasing." He told her, confirming the news that she had been denying all this time. "Me and the guys can take him, once and for all, but I can't do it if I'm not one hundred percent sure that my wife and kids are safe." He said. He took both her hands in his, and held them tightly between his. "I've dealt with a lot of loss in the past, but you, Alex and Holly are three things that I could never deal with losing. I need you all, and I couldn't bear to lose any of you." From where his hands were resting around Stella's he traced his thumb over her wedding ring.

Stella gave him a reassuring smile. "I love you, Charlie." She told him. "And I'm not going anywhere. We're a family. Me, you, our wonderful kids. We can do this. Together, we're stronger than Steve will ever be, but we have to stay strong, and keep on thinking." She closed her eyes, and Charlie brought up his hand to put his hand between her cheekbone and her loosely hanging hair. "Besides," She started slowly. "We have one bit of hope still."

"What's that?" Charlie asked, as she opened her eyes to look down on him again.

"Steve thinks that we've only got two kids."

* * *

The confirmation of Stella's pregnancy did bring Charlie the hope that he needed so badly. It had worried them when Alex and Holly's reaction would be to a new baby, seeing as they were older, now, than Alex had been when Holly was born, but both of them were as excited as the parents. Holly was ecstatic, convinced that she was going to have a sister, and Alex, likewise, convinced the baby was going to be a boy.

"It's the order," He had stated. "Boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl."

"Woah," Charlie had intervened at this point. "How many do you think we're having?" He asked rhetorically. "Fifteen?"

"I hope not!" Stella pointed out. "Labour with one is painful enough. I must be crazy to do it again."

Charlie knew though, that as soon as she had her child in her arms, it wouldn't have mattered to her whether it took minutes or weeks to deliver them. She was a sucker for children, they both were, but they were worried about the dangers involved after leaving it so long after Holly's birth for her to be expecting again.

"You love it really." Charlie reminded her.

"I love the result, not the labour." She assured him. "It's worth it though." She said, trailing off a little and smiling to herself, turning back to the bacon she was cooking.

"That doesn't mean you can eat those disgusting sandwiches infront of me, though." Alex told her.

She laughed, and Charlie smiled at seeing all three of them happy, even if it was only for the moment. "If I do that then you can make your own breakfast." She countered.

Alex thought this over for a moment, and then shook his head. "Just don't wave it under my nose." He surrendered, before standing up. "I'll be back in a minute." He said, heading out of the kitchen.

"What about your breakfast?" Charlie called to him, but he didn't get an answer as Alex was already down the hall and halfway up the stairs when he asked him. Picking up his coffee, he noticed a cheeky expression on Holly's face. "Dare I ask what you're up to?" He said, matching her smile.

"Alex isn't the only one who can find out anything, you know?" She said, not letting on what, exactly, she knew.

"What?" Charlie asked, slightly confused.

"He's up to something." She said, hinting a little.

"He is?" He asked, not having noticed anything mischevious going on recently.

"Oh yeah." Holly said.

"Does it have anything to do with his new leaf?" Stella asked, putting the bacon onto plates and sitting down beside her daughter with a glass of water.

"New leaf?" Charlie enquired becoming more confused by the second.

"I think someone needs a little father-son talk soon." Stella said, looking directly at Charlie.

"Yeah, me probably." Charlie said under his breath, remembering the disasterous father-son talk he and Alex had shared five years ago. "What are you two talking about?" He hated it when the 'woman's intuition' kicked in and he didn't understand a word they were talking about.

"Alex." They both said.

"I know that. But what about Alex."

"Charlie, he's started to look smarter going to school." Stella told him.

"And he keeps going to the bathroom to look in the mirrors to check his hair at breaks." Holly added. "Oh yeah, he's hooked alright."

"Hooked?"

"Alex has a crush." They both said together, clearing up all the confusion that Charlie had been emitting for the past two minutes. Then, seeing Charlie's equally curious look, Holly began to fill them in on the infamous Amy Allen.


	18. Hearts Breaking Even

"Mr Byrne! Mr Mercer!"

The call of Mr Sykes was all that stopped the swordfight practice between Michael and Patrick becoming out of hand. It was an after school practice, and seeing as this was the scene that Sykes was most worried about, he had wanted to start on this scene, with regular rerehursals on it. After half an hour along with yesterday's rehursal, they had already got the rehursed sequence right enough to be able to add in their own little sneaks, each trying to catch out the other, to make them slip.

Up in the rafters of the auditorium, Alex, Damon and the twins watched from above, as they always did - hoping to catch a sight of Steve. They had formulated their own plan during the day which they were putting into action on monday morning. A sound to their right attracted their attention, and they worried that they had been caught out, but found that it was just Charlie, replacing the roof tile that they used for access. Silently, Alex nodded to his father as he took a place on the rafters behind him.

"Does Mom know you're here?" Alex asked in a whisper.

"Yeah." Charlie answered, looking over the edge and grimacing a little as he always did. There would be a lot of broken bones if one of them fell. "She just doesn't know how high up." He hated lying to Stella about anything, but he knew that this was something she would rather not know. Then he looked down and saw Michael holding a sword. "Woah, thats a pretty good prop." He commented, noting the glint of the light against the blade.

"It's a bloody sharp prop." Damon said, showing Charlie a cut into the side of his hand. It wasn't very deep, and had only just broken the skin. "Sykes asked me to move them backstage and they're really sharp."

"Apparently the talent scout had them brought in," Alex explained. "He wants everything to be perfect on the night of the performance because his boss is coming. We heard him on his cell phone earlier."

"Three guesses who the boss is." Charlie muttered, knowing that Steve would be making the performance. It was only six weeks away now, seeing as for some reason, the date of the show had been moved forwards. He looked around, noting that Patrick and Michael were the only people on stage. "Where's Holly?" He asked.

Alex pointed down to the rows of seats. A few rows back, Holly sat with her hair, curling incredibly today because of the braids she had put it in last night, gleaming in the edge of the lights that just about reached where she sat. She seemed perfectly happy, chatting away to a girl who was at least two years older than her. "That's the girls in her scene." He said.

Nick leaned forwards between Alex and Charlie. "You see the girl sitting on the other side of Holly?" Charlie nodded. "That's Alex's girlfriend."

"Shut up!" Alex said, "She's not my girlfriend!"

Charlie smirked, so this was the infamous Amy Allen that Holly had told them about. The boys continued to bicker in whispers, so they weren't heard by the people below, but Charlie looked around him. Was Steve there, hiding, watching as he was? Holly didn't know yet that Charlie came into the practices, but he wanted to be there, ready to corner Steve as soon as he made an appearance. Sykes began talking again, and they all started to listen.

"Right! Now, no more of these little additions!" He said sharply, looking between Michael and Patrick, who were silently glaring at each other as if they would like nothing better than to use to swords for another purpose. "You will do the sequence as instructed - no more, no less, or I shall find other actors." Patrick didn't like the idea of this at all, and glared harder at Michael. "Now, we will try the full scene this time. Where is my Christine?"

Holly, who had been talking with Alyson, who was playing her on stage friend of Meg Giry, hadn't heard Sykes talking, so she had ignored him. Sykes turned around to face her.

"Is Miss Croker going to bless us with her attention today?" Holly looked up, not having entirely heard him. "Well, will you do the graveyard scene or shall I find a stand in?" Sykes asked.

"No sir, I'll do it." She said, standing from her seat, still laughing a little from what Alyson had told her.

"Good." Sykes said, as Holly ran up the stage steps. "We'll start from when Raoul enters the graveyard, after the song from Christine and the Phantom."

Holly took her place before a large makeshift grave type tomb that had been made out of plaster of paris for the production, and Patrick hid to the side of it, away from the audience. Michael went off stage and waited for his cue.

"Are we ready?" Sykes asked, but continued without waiting for an answer. "Action!"

Michael ran on stage, stopping in the middle of the stage calling out as he ran. "No, Christine, wait!"

Holly turned around, feigning a look of surpise. "Raoul!"

Michael went up to her and pulled out his sword from his sheath. He was already liking the idea of this weapon on his hip. "Whatever you may believe, this man - this thing - is not your father!"

Now, Charlie didn't know the story of this play, so he had no idea what was going on, but he did start getting very into the idea of seeing it as Patrick jumped out with his sword and they had the sword fight. They had, indeed, rehersed it very well, and it even looked convincing when Patrick pretended to stab Michael in the arm. In the final production of course, they were going to use fake blood, but they weren't even in costume that day, so they didn't have any extravagents like that. Charlie was starting to think that the storyline went with the Phantom winning the fight, when Michael pinned Patrick down and raised his sword menacingly.

This was where Holly intervened. "No, Raoul! No. Not like this."

Michael looked back down at Patrick, and then put his sword away, before going over to Holly, grabbing her wrist, and leading her away.

Sykes stood up, applauding, and Patrick got up from the ground. "Excellent. See what you can do when you stick to the script?" None of them answered him. "I think thats all the work on this scene done for the moment." Michael sighed with relief, his arms were aching from doing this scene - but he did like the sword. "Let's try..." Sykes looked through the script. "Phantom of the Opera."

"But, sir!" Holly protested. "We've done that in every practice this week." She was sick of the scene now, having done it nearly a hundred times because something had always gone wrong.

"Oh, all right." Sykes decided, changing his mind. "Well, we can't do the Masquerade without the choir or having learnt the dance routine. Ok, let's try the dialogue before Think of Me. We have yet to get that right. Now, I want all actors on stage." A hurry of the students rushed on, Charlie was starting to like this man less and less. "Mr Byrne, you are not in this scene, neither are you Mr Mercer, if you will please leave the stage. Now I want dancers dancing, and - Carlotta? For heaven's sake where is my Carlotta?" There was no answer. "Has anyone seen Miss Jennings today?"

Leah Jennings, who was supposed to be playing the role of Carlotta, was no where to be seen.

"Sir," A blonde haired boy who was playing Firmin piped up. "She went home, she was sick."

"Sick?" Sykes repeated as if he had never heard the word. "Sick!"

"Yes, sir."

"What do you mean sick? Is she in a coma?"

The blonde boy looked slightly disturbed. "No, sir, she blew chunks fourth period."

"If she is not in a coma, there is no reason why she should not be here!" Sykes said, outraged.

Up in the rafters, Nick turned to his twin and muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Do you think his mood has something to do with the pin on his chair?" All the boys laughed, including Charlie.

"You put a pin in his chair?" He asked in disbelief.

"What can I say," Nathan said. "We're suckers for the classics."

Sykes's luck didn't get any better, and rehursals were disasterous all day. Charlie snuck out of the auditorium to get back to his car, and waited there for the others to come out. Waiting was Rob, in his car, to take the twins up to their grandmother's for the weekend. Somehow, on the way home, for once, Steve was not mentioned. Even after Charlie had dropped Damon and Michael back at home, Holly and Alex remained chirpy and cheerful, chatting eagerly amongst themselves and to their father.

When they got back to the house they managed to stop their playful disagreement long enough to call out to say hello to Stella, before Alex shrugged and turned to his sister. "Settle it over a game of chess?" He asked.

"Cards." Holly said defiantly. Charlie smirked as he hung up his jacket, as well as the school bags that had just been discarded carelessly beside the door - that was his kids, the card sharks.

"Fine then,"Alex said, "Blackjack." His personal favourite - short, sweet, and good for winning money off a drunken Handsome Rob.

"No, Rummy." Holly corrected him. Her personal favourite - slightly longer, more strategic, and good for winning money against a sover Handsome Rob.

"Blackjack."

"Rummy."

"Blackjack."

"Rummy."

"Dad!" They both said in unison.

Charlie looked through his pockets, finding a coin, as he always did.

"Heads." Alex said quickly, getting in quickly before Holly could. Usually, Holly said heads first and Alex always lost on tails. However when the coin flipped, and Charlie caught it -

"Tails." Charlie announced. "Holly wins."

So the pair disappeared off to play Rummy, and Charlie did what he did every day, and went on a search to find his wife somewhere in the house. She wasn't in the kitchen, nor was she in the garden, nor the living room. Eventually, Charlie found her upstairs in their bedroom, just lying on the bed. Her eyes weren't closed, but she had one of the pillows hugged between her stomach and her legs as she curled into a ball.

"Stella?" He asked as he came into the room, sitting beside her. "You ok?"

"She called." Was all her reply came as.

"Who called?" Charlie asked. She didn't answer at first, and he pulled some fallen hair away from her face. "Sweetheart?"

"My-my Mother."

Charlie saw the look of hatred in her eyes as she said the word 'mother', and no one could mistake the way she said it as if the word were poisonous to her.

"What does she want?" Charlie asked, putting on a tone of his own. "She's done enough to you, Stella, surely?"

"She's had a heart attack." Stella said. "She says she wants to see her grandchildren and make up for lost time with her daughter." She said it with a laugh as if she idea was absurd. "She has no daughter."

"You mean, after what she did to Alex, to us, she wants to do it all again." Charlie asked.

"Yeah."

Charlie remembered vividly one particular day when Alex was in hospital from his burns, which had been caused by Stella's mother, Justine, leaving a boiling hot bath unattended whilst she was asleep and Alex had fallen into it. Once in hospital, Stella had only been allowed one day at her son's side before Justine called the social services and told them that Stella had put him in the bath. Even though it was gruelling weeks that Alex stayed in the care of the hospital, there was one day that stuck with him more than the rest.

_Stella was standing outside the hospital room, her forehead leaning against the large window that was the only means she could see her son. Charlie approached her, seeing the tears gleaming on her cheeks as she stared helplessly. Alex had bandages over most of his body, all except his head, the only part of him not scalded, and they were uncomfortable, strange to him. At the moment he was asleep from the painkillers that the doctors had given him that morning, but they knew that he would be waking up before the evening was through. Charlie handed Stella a plastic cup containing the coffee that she needed. If she wasn't sleeping, she needed something to keep her awake. _

_"I can't stand this anymore, Charlie." She said to him. "I want to be in there with him. I want to be with my little boy." It had been three days now, that Stella had not been allowed to enter the room unaccompanied by professionals from the social services. _

_Charlie took both of their coffee's and set them down on the table behind them ontop of some magazines. He took her in his arms. "Don't worry, someone will come forward and tell them that we were out that night. Once they realise that you weren't there, you can go to him."_

_"How can they think I'd hurt him?" She asked, though Charlie had no answer. "I'm not my mother! I would never hurt Alex! Never!"_

_Stella pulled away from Charlie as Alex began to scream, his signal for having woken up and felt pain again. She watched her son, as he flailed his arms around and waited for someone to comfort him. "Mommy." He cried, and Stella pressed her forehead back against the cool glass. _

_"Go to him, Charlie." She said desperately. _

_Charlie said nothing, not sure what to say, and went into the room where his son was screaming. He leaned over him, so that if Alex opened his eyes, he could see him clearly. He put on hand on the side of his face comfortingly to let him know he was there. "Alex," Charlie cooed._

_Alex opened his eyes and saw his father. He reached out his arms, "Daddy."_

_Tentatively, Charlie picked up his son, making sure that he didn't press onto any of the heavily burnt areas as the doctors had instructed him. "Thats right, Alex, Daddy's here."_

_"Daddy's here." He repeated, clinging to his father. "Mommy here?"_

_Charlie looked over to Stella, who had turned her back to the glass, and he could see from the way her hands were raised to her face that she was crying. "Mommy will be here soon." Charlie said helplessly._

_"Want Mommy." Alex told him._

_"I know, Alex."_

"She called me at work, said that she knew I'd still be at Dad's shop. She said she was sorry." Stella told him.

"Do you believe her?" Charlie asked.

Stella didn't respond for a while, and when she did, it was undecided. "There's only one way to find out." She said.

Charlie had to shake himself momentarily. Had those words really come from Stella's mouth? Had she really just suggested going to see her mother? And taking the kids? "Stella..." He began. "Are you sure you've thought about this properly? I mean, what she did to you...to Alex?"

"I know, Charlie. They're no safer here. At least there we can be sure that we can watch them all the time. As long as she's around me her attention won't be focused on Alex and Holly." She said. Clearly, to Charlie's disappointment, she had thought this through, and he had never been more reluctant to admit she was right. Justine wasn't strategic enough to take her anger out on more than one person at a time.

"Who knows," Charlie started, only to encourage Stella that she had made a good choice, "maybe she really has turned over a new leaf. Maybe the heart attack was what she needed." Charlie knew that saying a heart attack was exactly what some people needed wasn't a very grown up thing to say, but in the case of Stella's mother, it was sadly true. It did take extremes to get through to her - usually this consisted of an angry argument, having ornaments chucked at you, and walking out of her life for years on end.

"If she has, then maybe when I tell her what a rotten mother she's been, she'll listen for once."

"I say we give the kids full permission to wind her up and be annoying." Charlie suggested lightly, not meaning it, but knowing it could be entertaining to see that awful woman wound up by his kids.

"Sounds good to me." Stella said with a laugh, and Charlie laughed along with her, never having imagined that she might agree to that. "Alex has some revenge to get, after all."

"We can't go anywhere until Holly's play's done." Charlie reminded her. "She won't want to miss that." Stella sighed a little - even at the cost of seeing her mother she was exstatic about leaving Steve behind. "Don't worry - the rehursals are going ahead of schedule apparently, the date's moved forward again."

"Again?" Stella asked.

"It's now October 12th, three weeks away." Charlie told her. "Steve's gonna be there." He told her.

Stella merely nodded. "We'll be ready for him." She said confidently.


	19. Self Preservation Society

Later that night, everyone was gathered together at the Croker household. It was only then that Holly and Alex abandoned their card game to come downstairs and see everyone, apparently they had been drawing for three hours now without a clear winner, which Holly was disappointed about. Alex and Damon were also enthusiastic to share their so-called brilliant plan which was yet to be revealed. All gathered in the living room, the families watched as Alex and Damon paraded around infront of the television, listening to the conversations waiting around for the oportune moment. Lyle had offered to call in the take out, and hung up the phone with a sigh.

"Just as I thought. The phone's tapped." He declared.

"How can you tell?" Holly asked.

"Trust me, Princess, just don't ask." Charlie said. "He knows."

"Steve's getting bolder." Michael revealed. "He's definately up to do something."

"Yeah, he tried to do us during third period." Nick said absently, as if it were nothing.

"Why weren't you in your lesson?" His mother, Kelly, demanded, but he ignored her.

"What do you mean 'tried'?" Alex asked him. Stella watched her son with his thoughtful expression, rubbing his chin every now and again while he was thinking deeply. Again, she revelled in his likeliness to Charlie.

"He never managed to finish his sentence," said Nathan, "due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that cupboard on the first floor beside the auditorium."

All of the women, including Holly, looked very shocked. The men and boys just looked extremely amused. "But you'll get into serious trouble!" Holly spluttered.

"That all depends on how long it is before someone lets him out, because judging from the intelligence shown so far, he isn't getting out himself." Nick said cooly. "Anyway, we've decided that we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" Rob asked, astounded.

"Course we have." Nathan said. "We've never been expelled after all." It was true, they had never even been threatened with expulsion or suspension, whereas Alex was frequently reminded how close he was to both of those ideas.

"We might have put a toe out of line occassionally." Nick said innocently.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem." Nathan said in a voice that sounded unlike his own.

"And now?" Alex asked.

"Well, what with our Holly in danger-"

"We reckon a bit of mayhem-"

"Is exactly what old Steve deserves."

The twins humourous attitude towards this did seem like a good idea. While the others concentrated on the details, they set out to annoy Steve in as many ways as possibly. And to Charlie especially, the idea if Steve locked in a cupboard by two schoolboys was insulting not to laugh at. The mothers, however, didn't approve of this.

"Ok,Alex, what's this big idea?" Stella asked, dreading the answer.

"Well," He began professionally. "As you may remember, Mom, a few years ago, me and Damon united a following of students to overturn Mr Davis." He prompted. Mr Davis had been a teacher that was out of order to all students, so Alex and Damon had formed a kind of club where they had arranged to get him sacked basically. The worrying thing about it was that it had worked rather well.

"And," Damon continued. "In light of recent events, we decided to host an emergency meeting of all still loyal to the SPS."

"Of course, we won't be revealing any details to them, only us guys will know that, but we'll give them Steve as the target." Alex informed.

"Hang on a minute." Left-ear intervened. "The SPS? What the hell does that mean?"

Alex smirked at him, and all the children answered together. "The Self-Preservation Society."

Damon continued on with their plan. "Even at the least, we can get him so distracted that he won't even notice Holly's in the building."

Charlie nodded. "How many people do you think you can get?"

Alex calculated in his head. "Well, Mark Cobalt went to England last year, Christian Moore dropped out - bit I'll see what I can do with him, Baz Hillman was expelled last week..."

"Don't forget Billy Sands." Michael piped up, "He went with his parents to Australia."

"At least thirty." Alex came to a conclusion.

"Wait a sec," Lyle said, holding up a hand. "Charlie, are we really putting all of this into the hands of kids?" He said. "Our kids?"

"Being our kids makes them the best kids for the job." Charlie said.

"Yeah, we learn from the masters." Nick said with a small laugh.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lyle asked.

There was a silence in the room and everyone looked to Charlie. "I don't know." He said. "It might work, besides, it's the only idea we have. If we all disappear, he'll find us, no mistake about that. Until we can think of another plan, we have to put our faith in the Self-Preservation Society."


	20. Like Father Like Son

**Okay, I know I haven't updated this in forever, and I'm sorry! Toxic-Beetle, my darling, thank you for giving me the boot up the ass to get this up. God bless you for threatening me, I'll do anything to avoid being poked! Thanks for being patient guys, and here's the next chapter!  
Angel  
Xxx

* * *

**

Mr Sykes stopped the rehursal by bursting out laughing. Everyone on stage stopped where they were, and just stared at him, wondering whether his skin was about to turn purple and maybe he would sprout another head. Michael looked at Holly, who looked back at him, and they both shrugged at each other. This rehursal was taking place during lesson time; in particular, during the time of Alex's lesson. He sat slumped in one of the seats, in between Jason and Robbie, who were slumped down even further. Alex, however, was keeping a keen eye out for any sign of Steve.

"Uh, Sir?" Patrick asked, from his place on the side of the stage. He stood in his full costume, as did the others. It was the first dress rehursal for the show.

But, even at Patrick's call, Sykes didn't stop laughing.

"What's so funny?" One of the girls asked him.

"What's so funny?" Sykes repeated, stopping his insane laughter for a while. "What's so funny? What's so hilariously funny, Ms Macormik," he said, directing his answer at her alone, "Is that this show goes up in a week! Look at you all!" The cast looked between each other with confused looks. The only thing they could see was how strange they looked in the half-finished costumes. "Chelsea, you're meant to be standing up-stage-right, not down-stage-right. Sarah, you're meant to be standing in between Michelle and Madeline. Christopher, you're not even supposed to be on stage for crying out loud!" Sykes laughed again, but this time it was nervous laughter. "You're not an emsemble cast - you're a zoo!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

It was now October 5th, with exactly one week to go until the opening and closing night of the play. The nerves were starting to get to them all, even Holly. Up until this point, there had been no showing, no mention, and no viewing of Steve around them. Alex, as he mentioned, had set up a meeting with the Self-Preservation Society. In all, they had managed to round up twenty-eight of the original group, who Alex had explained the situation to briefly. They didn't know about the gold, only that this man had a vendetta against Charlie and that they needed to get him out of the school.

There were plans waiting to happen all around the school, planned down to a T. Every other day, they met at lunchtime to discuss anything, come up with new plans, and tweak the old ones - yet there was no need. It was like Steve had evaporated into thin air. The only scrap of evidence that suggested he was still lurking somewhere was the fact that his agent still attended every rehursal.

Alex caught sight of the man sitting beside Sykes, and glared daggers into the back of his head. He wondered whether he would turn around if he did it long enough. He thought that might pass some time that he would have otherwise spent playing noughts and crosses in on the front of Robbie's math book, or flicking pencils into the backstage area and trying to get them caught in the lace that made up the dancer's costumes.

Sykes barked out more orders at the students, who rushed around to show they were paying attention, swapping over their positions and working on different ideas. So far, things had been going well, other than that day, of course. It seemed that the pressure of only having 5 weeks in total to rehurse the whole play was getting to everyone. The dances had only been choreographed two weeks ago, and the dancers were still learning them, and the fight scenes were done to death so that the actors struggled to find the energy to enact them properly.

Whilst the encounters with Steve had slowed down, so had everything else. The time that was building up until Christmas was going slower, mainly because Charlie and Stella had recently announced that they were going to visit Stella's mother for a while. Alex had immediately begged to stay at home rather than spending a week or so with "that old witch". He hadn't said 'witch'. He had said a stronger word which had gotten him grounded for three days. Mind you, in his head, he had a perfectly good reason to say that - it was Stella's mother who had scalded him after all. They hadn't let him stay at home, so instead, he was forced to endure the same punishment as the rest of them. Weren't holiday's meant to be fun?

Another thing that had slowed to almost a complete hault was his advances with the lovely Amy. She had gotten a crush on the new boy, Freddie Boran, Alex's new arch-enemy, and had completely forgotten about Alex. She was sitting next to him as well, surrounded by all her girlfriends as they all hung on to his every word. Why didn't any girls hang on to his every word? Even his sister, who he was sticking his neck out to protect, didn't listen to half of what he told her.

Alex reached down into his bag, and pulled out a sandwich that had been made that morning.

"What are you doing?" Jason asked, knowing full well that he would probably be suspended if Sykes caught him eating in his precious auditorium.

Alex simply shrugged. "It's nearly lunchtime. I'm hungry." He decided, digging in to the sandwich.

It tasted awful, of course, because he had made it. He had made his own lunch that morning because Stella had been suffering from morning sickness. Oh, the joys of a pregnant mother. He didn't remember what had happened when she was expecting Holly, because he was so young, but that was probably for the best. The other night, Lyle had sat him down and explained about the moodswings that, as the eldest child and a male, he would be the victim of. If he was going to get it that bad, he really sympathised with his father.

Holly, on the other hand, loved the idea of having a little sister. Yes, she was convinced she was having a sister. Whenever Alex tried to suggest that it could be a boy, she insisted that it was a girl. So eventually, he had given up. So now Holly and Stella spent a lot of time discussing things like baby clothes, and the baby's room, and the baby's name...Holly never had a chance to be excited about this before because she was the youngest of them. Alex, on the other hand, had been around when all of the others were babies, and didn't see what all the fuss was about. They screamed, they cried, they spat up, and they pulled his hair. When Charlie had pointed out that he might get a raise in his allowance for babysitting, he had changed his tune a little - only a little, mind, because he could make do with his allowance exactly how it was.

Sykes, still rampaging, turned around to check that his class were still reading the books he had set them. Alex quickly ducked below the chair infront, throwing his sandwich into the bottom of his bag before he was caught.

"Alexander, what do you think you're doing?" He asked angrily. On stage, Holly giggled alongside Michael. Alex just cringed at the use of his full name.

Alex, naturally, didn't answer. He might be a rebel boy, but he wasn't raised to talk with his mouth full of food - especialyl in a place where he wasn't supposed to be eating.

"Alexander!" He yelled again.

"Yeah?" He called back, having swallowed his mouthful, successfully hidden his food, and now reclining back in his chair.

"'Yeah'?" Sykes inpersonated, clearly offended.

"Yes, sir." Alex corrected himself sarcastically.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Alex gestured around him. "Well, sir, when one bends his legs and lowers his body onto a nearby object, we call it 'sitting down'." Sykes began to turn a furious shade of magenta. "When one does it just as casually as this, it can also be called 'relaxing', 'taking it easy'..."

"Slacking off!" Sykes exploded.

Alex looked at him in mock amazement. "Wow, sir, that's brilliant, I didn't think of that one."

"Slacking off!" He repeated. Was that purple on his face now? "I set you some work through the most important part of my year and you're slacking off!"

Alex nodded slowly. "Yeah, pretty much, sir."

He heard a groan of disgust from a few rows along, and shot at glare at the culprit, who turned out to be none other than Evil Freddie Boran.

Sykes continued on his outrage. "Slacking off! I ask you to read one book! One book, Mr Croker! And you can't even manage that!"

"Actually, sir, I can manage it rather well." He said innocently. "That's what's so boring about it. There's no challenge to it. Besides," He added cheekily. "This is drama, not a literacy lesson."

Needless to say that Alex wasn't available to spend time with the others at lunch in ten minutes time because he was too busy serving a detention, which consisted of sitting obediently at Mr Sykes side whilst he went through even more rehursals. It wasn't that bad though, as at least he got to sit and talk to Holly, who wasn't meant to be on stage. They ended up playing rock-paper-scissors for the whole time, and just like their Rummy games, there was never a clear winner. It was always a draw.

* * *

When Handsome Rob dropped them home after school, the two of them walked into the living room to see Stella standing there with raised eyebrows, Charlie standing beside her. This only happened when he was in big trouble.

"Hi Mom." Alex said innocently. "Nice day?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Great! Love to stay and chat, but I've got a truckload of homework to do..." He started to walk towards the stairs to make his escape.

"Alex." Charlie said sternly. Alex cringed at his tone, and turned back to them.

"Yeah?" He asked, still pretending to know nothing about what they were talking about.

"I think we need to have a talk." Charlie said.

Alex knew how this was going to be like. Having a 'talk' with his parents in this setting meant that they were going to talk, and then he was going to listen, nod, smile, assure them it wouldn't happen again, and then he would probably get in trouble for the same thing next week, and this would happen all over again. It was how it always worked. It hadn't actually happened for a while, because he had more focused on keeping his sister out of trouble rather than keeping himself occupied.

Still, he nodded, dropping his bag by the door and heading towards them. Holly passed him, slicing her finger across her throat teasingly. How nice it must be for her to never get in trouble, he thought to himself.

Sitting down on the couch before his parents, he let out a sigh. "What am I in trouble for this time?" He asked, surrendering immediately because there was no point beating around the bush. He was in trouble for something.

"Your teacher called." Stella said.

"Which one?" He asked, even though he knew who it would have been.

"Mr Sykes." Charlie confirmed.

"Ah." Alex said simply. "What am I in trouble for?" He asked again.

"Not doing any of your work in class, being cheeky to teachers and eating in the auditorium." Stella recited, having had to listen to the old man rattle on for a long time on the phone that afternoon.

"Okay, I can explain." He said. "Technically, the work was useless because it wasn't even to do with drama, we were being forced to sit in the auditorium while he did stuff with the play - we weren't even in class! Second, I wasn't being cheeky." Both of them gave him a look that told him they didn't believe him for a second. "Okay, maybe I was." He corrected. "But I definately wasn't eating in the auditorium!"

"Alex, he found your half-eaten lunch on the floor where you were sitting." Stella said tiredly.

"Who says it was mine?" He asked, begging for the justice.

"It was found next to your Math book." Stella said.

Damn that hole in the bottom of his bag.

For the next half an hour, Alex sat and listened to his parents telling him about the importance of his last year, and that if he wasn't careful, he would get held back a year. It wasn't that he wanted to get held back or chucked out, it was just that Sykes had a vendetta against him. Neither of his parents accepted that his drama teacher had a vendetta against him - strangely, he thought that they might have understood that considering they were victims of a vendetta, but they didn't and told him not to be so ridiculous.

As Alex went up to his bedroom afterwards, every member of the Croker family was thinking about the same thing.

It was seven days until opening night...and seven days until Steve would make his move.


End file.
